Emergence
by Tamlin
Summary: Completed.Sequel to Chrysalis. As the yamis search for some way to join their hikaris in the physical realm, plots are hatched against Kaiba. Add a secretary that is seeking to be fired, shadows and a Duel Monsters convention and chaos results.
1. All is Faire

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

Emergence

Chapter One: All is Faire

Yami took one look at himself and disappeared.

_Yami? Come on. It's fun._ Yugi called to his obstinate darkness as he dodged a portly man.

_No! NO! I do have some self respect you know!_ Yami braced his back against his soul room's door as he fumbled for the lock, keeping his insistent hikari out.

_Oh come on. It's not that bad._ Yugi wheedled through the door after trying to shove it open. _I'll see if I can get you a beer..._

Yami looked down at himself, he was still dressed in the same manner that Yugi was, he frowned and started ripping the offending garments off. _I. Said. NO!!! NO! NO! NO!_

Yugi sighed and shrugged, _Okay Yami, but if you change your mind..._

Yami checked the lock, making sure it was fully engaged and straitened, tearing the last of the brightly spotted clothing off his body and giving the ridiculous belled hat a kick for good measure. _Not fuckin' likely._

_Yami! You sound just like Bakura!_ Yugi danced around a black dressed matron with a starchy white hat. He was trying to keep up with the rest of the group, who were up ahead consulting their programs.

Yami didn't answer back. He stomped deeper into the puzzle and headed for his bedroom. Most of the time, he didn't mind his light's choice of clothing. He thought the black leather looked great on him. He didn't particularly love the school jacket, but he could manage. His hikari's taste for wearing rumpled shirts was a bit distressing, but a bit of well placed magic and the shirt disappeared. However, today his light had clearly lost whatever tiny, minuscule amount of good fashion sense he possessed. He flung himself out onto his balcony and breathed deep, letting the scent and sounds of the Nile sooth him as soft gentle wind caressed his bare flesh comfortingly. To think, he, a pharaoh, a living god, the beloved son a Egypt, who had ruled over the greatest kingdom of his age, reduced to wearing fools motley and a belled jester's hat. _When I get my hands on you aibou! You just wait..._

Yugi skipped ahead to where Honda, Jonouchi, Anzu, Mai, Mokuba, Kaiba and Yuai stood next to a brightly colored Maypole trying to figure out where they were going to go first. It was the opening day of the Renaissance faire and a whole day of ogling overflowing bosoms, eating bad food and listening to raunchy jokes beckoned. He only wished his yami would come out and enjoy the fun.

Everyone else seemed to be getting in the mood. Even Kaiba had been cajoled into wearing an elegant pirate costume, complete with a revealing white shirt, that kept his lover gleefully occupied ogling a completely different kind of bosom than the others that glided around the faire. Yugi knew that his other half would be at least a little miffed at his choice in costume, but to lock himself away in his soul room and start cussing? He thought he'd get a blush, a disgusted look, maybe a frown and a grumble, but it had been true anger he had seen in his yami's eyes.

Yugi hoped he hadn't completely offended his other. Lately, the spirit seemed to be loosing his sense of humor. He took the oddest things seriously, a chance comment could make him turn away and disappear deep into the rooms of his soul. Other times, nothing seemed to be the cause, Yami would just leave without a word, sometimes angry, sometimes sad, sometimes with an unreadable expression that left Yugi wondering what had happened. He had hoped that Yami would enjoy the faire. _Guess I should have dressed as a Celt or a pirate or something, anything else. Thought he might laugh...Well, guess not._

Jonouchi, dressed as a swordfighter, complete with flamboyant gloves, soft velvets, and a slender sword hanging from his hip, waved toward the cool expanse of lake. "We gotta see the pirate fight after lunch."

"No, no," Mokuba pointed over to a round lushly green hill behind the merchant booths, "We should watch the war games."

"I don't care what we watch, after lunch," Mai, dressed in a sky blue wench dress with an amazingly revealing neckline, shrugged, nearly making Mokuba's eyes pop out. "I want to go to the Rouges Gallery Theater, the show starts in just a couple minutes." Mai consulted her map and pointed in the direction the stage.

Anzu, who was pressed, half terrified against Mai's side and wearing a matching dress, nodded agreement, She was nervously watched a group of drunken Spaniard noblemen stagger by, looking a bit overwhelmed to be out in such a crowded place. Mai smiled reassuringly down at her and kissed her temple.

Mokuba also nodded, "Yeah! Let's go there. I want to see A Irishman, a Sheep and a Who..."

"Not happening." Kaiba shook his head, then irritably flicked the trailing ends of his headband back over his shoulder. "How about going over to the Spingflower Stage and see The Jesters Mad Dance?"

"Ah, come on, big brother! I'm big enough to see.." Mokuba stamped one leather clad foot, a miniature pirate having a tantrum.

Kaiba growled, "No you're not."

Jonouchi wrenched his eyes away from the tantalizing expanse of half exposed chest and forced his eyes up, "How about we split up?"

Honda, the only one not wearing some kind of costume nodded. "Sounds good. We've all got our cell phones and we can meet for lunch after the shows."

"I'd like to see the Jesters. I heard theyre really funny." Yugi went to stand next to Mokuba, "Mokuba could come with me."

Yuai was in a green dress with a soft yellow under-dress and a delicate band of dried flowers in her blond hair. She was tugging at her under-dress, trying to get it not to further expose her already, in her opinion, over exposed body, as she stepped closer to Yugi, "I'd like to see that too, I read a review about them in the paper. It's one of the "must sees" of the faire."

Honda stepped over to the rapidly forming group. "Then I'm in."

Jonouchi grabbed Kaiba, yanking him in the direction Anzu and Mai were already heading in, "Lets go with the girls. The Rouge's Gallery is next to the food row. I wanna drumstick."

Kaiba looked back at his brother, "Okay, but we meet right after the show." He leveled a hard look at Yuai. "Keep him away from anything rated NC-17."

"Not a problem." Yuai smiled back.

"Hey! Wait! I didn't say I'd go." Mokuba yelped as his brother disappeared into the crowd. "No way am I going for the kiddy show. I want to know about that sheep!" He tried to bolt, but was caught easily and swung up over Honda's shoulder.

"Life's tough kid. Suck it up and enjoy the view." Honda helpfully swung Mokuba so the kid had an amazing look at the biggest, most scantily covered cleavage his young eyes had ever seen.

Yuai whacked him, "Honda! NC-17, remember!"

"Hey, I only rate those PG-13." He sauntered over to where an other young, endowed woman stood waiting in line and playfully turned, nearly smacking Mokuba into the lady's chest. "Now, those babies are heading to the R rated category, don't you think Mokuba?"  
Mokuba nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. R, definitely R."

Yuai turned and wrapped her arms around Yugi, hiding her face in his hair. "I'm doomed."

Yugi patted her back, eyes glued to the young heaving breast of Mokuba's latest object d'art. "Oh, don't worry, he's right. That one's only R." His eyes nearly fell out as Honda made his way over to another blushing beauty. "Now that might just hit the NC-17 rating."

Jonouchi bit into his turkey leg and grinned as the Irishman tripped over his sheep. "That just had to hurt."

Kaiba nodded, happy to see Jonouchi happy. It had been a near call. Kaiba Corp. was in the middle of inventory and the truth was, he was needed. He had fully intended on going in to work today, to keep the whole situation under strict control, but who was he to resist both his brother and his sweet eyed lover. "Probably should give up working with livestock." Kiaba gently pushed a lock of bright hair away from Jonouchi's eyes, smiling at the laughter in them.

"That'd leave him with the whore." Jonouchi giggled as the Irishman pulled himself to his feet and wobbled drunkenly across the stage to where his 'lady' sat flirting with another man. Jonouchi laughed as the 'lady' smacked the Irishman coyly with her fan, sending him reeling into the sheep, who dramatically baahed and kicked him.

Jonouchi scrunched closer to Kaiba and pointed to the whore, "Ya know, I think that just might be that bug kid, Weevile Underware.

Underwood, Jo." Kaiba looked closer at the whore, "I hate to say it, but Weevile looks better than that.

"Yeah, could be right." Jo took advantage of his position to eye Kaiba's chest again. _Damn hormones, sit boys, sit. We cannot jump Kaiba in the middle of the Faire!_ He forced himself to look around the audience, while getting portions of his body to calm down. _Glad I opted for the codpiece._

Kaiba grinned to himself, watching Jonouchi. This really was so much fun. Normally, he didn't go in for teasing, but just watching Jo pant and drool was far more entertaining as the show. He quickly wiped the grin away as Jonouchi's eyes skittered back for another look. _To think I wanted to miss this to watch some moron goof up counting pencils._

Kaiba turned back to the stage, noting a half dozen security men scattered in with the crowd, dressed in rather bland Renaissance clothes. He knew at least a half dozen more were presently guarding Mokuba and only his head of security knew how many more were lurking unseen. Things had been quiet for months, with no repeat of the shooting incident, but Kaiba wasn't about to let down his guard, he had too much to protect, too much to lose. He looked over at his lover, watching Jonouchi laugh. Yes, way too much.

Yuai

Yuai dragged herself into her room and collapsed onto the soft bed. She loved her room. The soft furniture, the pristine view of the gardens behind the Kaiba estate, the quiet. Oh, how she loved the quiet. So different from the tense stifling quiet of other homes she had lived in, or the empty, lonely quiet of the park. This was a good quiet, of sleep, and rest, and safety. She smiled happily into the soft comforter, letting herself drift into the quiet, letting herself flirt pleasantly with sleep for a few moments.

Mokuba had spent most of the evening ricocheting around the mansion on sugar overload from eating chocolate strawberries, sugar covered kettle corn, and lemon ices. He had sang every dirty song he had overheard; slid down the banister waving his new feather plumed hat and yelling "hazzah!" when he finally leapt to a graceful bow at the bottom; raced up and down the halls, shrieking "Have at ye, villain!" and nearly decapitated Jonouchi with his sword. It had been about then, that Kaiba had yanked his startled lover upstairs, handing Yuai a hundred dollars and leaving her to her fate. She had finally resorted to hauling Mokuba to the backyard and letting him run like a maniac, till the kid finally fell into an exhausted heap. It had taken three hours. _Hope the gardener doesn't kill me in the morning._

She rolled over and looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight, much too late to call Yugi and wish him goodnight. She pulled off her Renaissance clothing and stumbled into the bath. Maybe, she could go over to his house tomorrow after school. She'd found a new game called Cathedral at the faire and she wanted to try it out.

She brushed her teeth and smiled at the mirror. She still owed Yugi for trouncing her in Othello last week. They'd both been busy in the last minute rush of exams before spring break. Now, with break finally here, she could recoup her loss.

She quickly showered and scampered off to bed, pulling her nightdress over her head. With any luck, Mokuba would want to spend the day over at a friend's house and she'd have the afternoon free. She wiggled under the covers and turned off the light. It was nice, she thought as she slipped into the soft hazy world of sleep, to finally have a life to look forward too.

Someone

He reached for the delicate flute of mimosa that sat on the white linen and lace table cloth. His breakfast, a perfectly toasted English muffin, a mound of fluffy scrambled eggs, three pieces of beautifully cooked bacon and a small crystal bowl of melon, sat in front of him, neatly framed by sparkling silverware.

"Are you sure that everything is in place?" He took a sip of the orange liquid, enjoying the tangy bite of citrus, watching his employee carefully. Never trust anyone, lesson one in life. He especially didn't trust this man. Yes, he was useful, but once his use was over a quiet, unobtrusive grave in the middle of the ocean seemed appropriate.

"Yes, sir." The man passed him the file with a small bow. "I've triple checked the details. We're using one of our best operatives. It should proceed without a flaw."

"Good. Very good. Make sure there aren't any mistakes this time." He set the file down on the table next to his plate.

"Yes sir. This time the outcome will be far more satisfactory." He bowed again as he was dismissed with a wave. He walked quickly out of the room, leaving his employer to finish his breakfast.

The man leaned back in his chair and looked out the window at the lush expanse of manicured lawn, edged with sculpted bushes and soft hued flowers. The sun gleamed against the crystal panes of the windows, sending bright prisms dancing across the floor. He opened the file and skimmed through the contents.

"Hmm. This should work nicely. Very nicely." He took another sip of orange juice. "Surprise, Kaiba, surprise. You really shouldn't be so very egotistical. It sets you up for some of the most amazing things."

Please review!!


	2. No Kisses

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

For more of Marik's crazy plans you have to read Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Okay, enough with the shameless plugs for my other stories. On with this one....

Emergence

Chapter 2: No Kisses

Lunch

Ryou nudged his lunch tray further to the side and propped his chin thoughtfully on his hand. "That's very interesting. I wouldn't have thought of making that move."

Yuai sat back and gave him a slight smile. "I saw it in one of the Chess Championship rounds last year."

Ryou nodded and studied the chess board that sat on the table between them. He'd finally met Yugi's girlfriend and had found out, wonders of wonders, that she could actually play chess. None of the others seemed in the least bit interested in the game, preferring the far more flashy and dramatic Duel Monsters, to the subtleties and complexities of a good game of chess. The only other person he knew that could play the game was his father, and seeing that the last time he saw his father for more than a overnight visit as he passed through Japan, was before his voice changed, he was...well delighted to finally meet someone else who could play.

_Delighted? What the hell kind of word is delighted?_ Bakura grumbled as he appeared and sat down next to his hikari.

_What do you want me to say? I'm fucking glad to finally be able to play this game with someone with a IQ?_ Ryou grumbled back irritably. He'd been practicing being grumpy for the last week and he was now achieving some small success at it. He even managed the cuss word without blushing bright red. Maybe tomorrow, he'd try a small temper tantrum, just to get the feeling of it.

Bakura sat and blinked surprised. _Ryou? Are you feeling okay?_

_Just fine. Why?_ He moved his knight and sat back with a satisfied smile.

_Uhmm, well, you sounded like me._ Bakura peered closer at his light. _That's not a good thing._

Ryou opened his milk and gave it a cautious sniff, then quickly refolded the carton and shoved it aside with his tray. _You must be rubbing off on me yami._

Bakura opened his mouth then closed it quickly, looked puzzled, opened his mouth again, shut it again than disappeared. _Score another one for Marik's crazy plans._ He smothered a grin behind a cough and turned his attention to his opponent.

Yuai tipped her head thoughtfully to one side and examined the move that Ryou made. Truth told, it was exactly the move she hoped he'd make, but she wanted to stall enough not to give away her glee. She sighed softly and considered her plans. Just as long as Ryou didn't move his remaining bishop, she'd have him in check in two turns. The trick of course was to keep him distracted, she pondered the situation a moment and then reached over and tentatively made a move to counter Ryou's attack with her rook, then took her hand back quickly, leaving the piece untouched.

Yugi nudged her slightly and whispered in her ear, "Queen to his bishop."

She gave him a soft shove with her elbow, "Hush."

"Just trying to help." He leaned over her shoulder to look at the board again.

Yuai gave him a quick kiss, snuggled a little closer and went back to her game. She picked up her queen and set it across the board, taking out a simple pawn.

Yugi moaned in her ear, "Not the pawn, the bishop."

Yuai gave him another kiss and wrinkled her nose at him. "Be quiet, you."

Yugi grinned back and kissed the tip of her nose. "Just looking after my girl."

"Hey, no making out in the cafeteria!" Jonouchi shoved him from behind, causing him to slam face first into Yuai's chest. He blinked happily at his new position, feeling pillowy softness under his lips, before snapping backwards, blushing as Jonouchi laughed behind him.

"You do know that before you lay a lip on my employee, I want a complete health screening." Kaiba warned from behind him.

Honda laughed, "Too late. I saw them behind the bleachers after gym, Looked like he had at least both lips and maybe a hand."

"Hey!" Yugi became even more red, "It wasn't like that!"

"Could've fooled me." Honda set his boxed lunch down and ran a hand through his hair, which wasn't in his usual neat pompadour, but fell in a soft tumble around his face, which had earned a few smothered comments and giggles from the female population of Domino High. Honda vaguely wished he knew what the comments where, but every time he turned to ask, the girls giggled and bolted like a herd of deer. _Women, go figure._

"Uhm, Yuai?" Ryou prodded from the other side of the table.

Yuai jumped guiltily and turned back to her game, "Sorry Ryou. Sorry."

Kaiba glowered at Yugi, "Health screening. On my desk."

"If she gets sick, you might end up babysitting Mokuba..." Jonouchi warned setting his own boxed lunch down and scooting over to give his koi room to sit.

"Mokuba??" Yugi had a brief mental picture of being hung upside down over a fire, as a naked Mokuba, spattered with a lot of primitive body paint, danced around waving a spear. "Eerr, well, yes. But couldn't I..."

Kaiba shook his head, "No. She gets sick. You baby-sit."

"How about tomorrow? Can I get it to you tomorrow."

Kaiba nodded and opened his lunch. "Hand it to me over lunch. I'll get back to you tomorrow evening whether or not you can touch her."

Yuai straitened and shook her head. "Ignore him. He knows that if you babysat, Mokuba would probably end up burning the mansion down."

Yugi sat trying to wrap his mind around the concept of ignoring Seto Kaiba. It was a big concept. He was absolutely sure that there was no one in Japan that could ignore Kaiba, relatively sure that there was no one in the Asian continent that could do it, and was pretty sure that there was no one in the world that could manage that feat.

He glanced over to where Kaiba was placidly sorting through the various bento boxes that his cook had prepared. Yugi turned back to Yuai, carefully not touching her. "I'll get it for him tomorrow. Not a problem."

Yuai sighed and shrugged, "You do know that if you do as he says that totally blows tonight, don't you?"  
"Tonight? What are you doing with my employee tonight?" Kaiba shifted to glare menacingly at Yugi.

"Uhmmm, a movie?" Yugi squeaked. This is what it felt like to meet someone's father, he just knew it. To make it worse, it was Papa Kaiba. Yugi felt a cold dread trickling slowly along his spinal column.

Yuai looked at the board noting that the bishop still sat placidly on his square and her queen was now deeply in danger of being taken. However, her Rook and her knight were now set to move into a checkmate. She carefully studied the board, looking for any traps she might have missed, seeing none she moved her knight. "Checkmate."

Ryou arched his eyebrows and looked carefully at the board. "Hm, I do believe you are right. That was really a lovely game."

Yuai grinned as she carefully started helping Ryou pack the pieces and board away, "I believe the credit for that must go to my opponent."

Ryou blushed, "Oh. Well, I think you are the one who should get the credit."

"Oh, no. It was you."

"No. You, entirely."  
"Please. I'm sure..."

"Look, can't you two just quit it already. Ya both did good." Jonouchi reached around and tapped Yuai on the head.

Yuai leaned forward and stuck her tongue out at Jonouchi, "You're just sore because..."

"Hey!" Jonouchi tried to lunge around Yugi to catch Yuai, "No telling. You promised."

Kaiba frowned, "Children!"

Jonouchi turned and frowned back at him, "She did promise."

"Drop it." Kaiba narrowed his eyes threateningly.

Jonouchi gave a small snort of disgust and settled back to his place on the bench. "Yer, in a mood."

Yuai sighed and turned to finish helping Ryou, with a small grin. It really was so much fun to be in a family. "Would you like to play tomorrow?"

Ryou nodded as he placed the set carefully in his pack, checked his watch and stood up. "That would be wonderful. Ill see you then."

"How about coming over to the shop tonight?" Yugi reached around and tried to snag one of Yuai's pieces of inari sushi from her bento. She tapped his fingers warningly and pointed to a piece of butterfish which he quickly popped into his mouth with a smile, "We could all go to the movies together if you'd like."

"Thank you, but I have a bit of studying to do. Speaking of, I'm very sorry, but I need to go talk to Mr. Yoshida for a few minutes about where to find the information I'll need."

Yugi waved as Ryou hurried away toward the teacher's lounge. Yuai nudged him in the ribs looking questioningly at him. He kissed the tip of her nose and nodded toward where Ryou was disappearing. "He's a bit lonely sometimes."

"Man, you two. Rent a room!"

"Hey, leave them alone. It's sweet."

"Shadup Honda, an wa's with your hair, run out of gel?"

"Leave my hair out of this."

"Be quiet! I'm trying to eat!"

Yugi and Yuai leaned against each other with a shared laugh, watching their friends bicker. Behind them, unnoticed, Yami stood watching with sad eyes, as they twined their hands together under the table.

Honda

Honda pulled his helmet off, wiped the sweat off his face and pushed his damp hair out of his eyes. He hadn't done too bad. His time was fourth out of a field of thirty so far. There were about twelve more motorcyclists still trying to qualify but his time was more than good enough to get him in. He swung off his bike and rolled it over to where his father was standing.

"Not bad, son. You'll be in the race." The older man nodded towards Honda's bike. "It's running okay?"

"Needs a tiny bit of work, nothing major." Honda pushed the bike past his father. "I'll be able to deal with it this afternoon."

"Remember, if you need any help, Hisho is the one to talk to." His father walked at the other side of the bike. "This things have gone way past me. It used to be so much simpler."

Honda grinned, "It's okay dad." He shook his head, "I sometimes feel like I'm getting an advance degree in mechanics every time I try to figure out anything new."

"You're doing fine son." Mr. Hiroto looked proudly over at his boy, "You're doing much better than your old man would've."

Honda grinned and turned away to look at a passing contestant, hiding his blush. "Thanks, dad."

"Now hurry up and get ready to go. Your mother insists that you have to get home and study. We'll catch dinner on the way. Drive thru burgers good enough?"

Honda smiled and nodded, "Good nuf."

"Hey! Honda! Over here!"

He turned and saw Mai winding her way through the crowd with Anzu nearly glued to her side, both grinning at him as they came closer.

"Hey, Mai, Anzu, what are you doing here?" Honda nodded as his father took the bike and walked toward their trailer.

Mai tipped her head and shrugged, "Come every year. You really did good. If you hadn't lost traction on the last turn you would have come in with the fastest time."

Honda laughed, "Oh, man. I almost lost it completely there. The track had something on it and the bike started skidding."

Anzu stepped away from Mais side, nodding in greeting." You got it back under control though. I saw one guy go into the wall and they had to call the ambulance." Anzu frowned worriedly, "Honda, please tell me you're careful out there."

He smiled and gave her a small hug. "Don't you worry about me, okay. I'm really careful."

"Okay." She smiled again and gave him a quick hug back then retreated back to Mai's side. "But if you end up in the hospital in traction. I swear, I'll visit you every day and spend hours and hours discussing the power of friendship."

Honda shuddered dramatically, "Oh Kami, NO! Not that! I'll be careful! I swear! Anything but that!" He clutched his hand over his chest and playfully swooned.

Anzu whacked him, "Just take care of your self and you never have to find out just how evil I can honestly be." She waggled her eyebrows, "I have some speeches that could send brave men screaming in horror.

Mai and Honda laughed as she comically set her hands on her hips like Superman standing on the top of a building and flung her head up, completing the pose.

"The world with tremble under the awesome might of my Super Feel Good Friendship Speech!"

"Flee, flee." Mai snickered grabbing Anzu around the waist. "Flee while I hold on to the Amazing Anzu and try to smother her all destroying speeches." Mai promptly caught Anzu in a deep kiss, still laughing against her love's mouth.

"Ahemmm, ladies. Ladies! Don't tease the celibate, here." Honda tossed a smile over his shoulder as he started walking to the trailer.

"Celibate?" Mai lifted her head and tugged Anzu into walking at her side. "Where's Serenity?"

"New York, last I heard." Honda grumped running one hand in his hair, absently noting it was getting too long. _Gotta remember to get it cut the moment the race is over._

"Doesn't that girl ever quit traveling?" Mai tucked her hand into the waistband of Anzu's pants, wiggling her fingers suggestively against the soft skin.

"Not that I noticed." Honda looked around as they got to the trailer, not seeing his father. "Makes it difficult." He saw his father standing and talking to another man a short distance off. "And it makes you wonder sometimes."

"Wonder what?" Anzu tried to ignore the feeling that Mai's fingers were creating.

"Serenity and her mom. They go damn near everywhere they want, when they want and do damn near everything they want, but look at Jonouchi." Honda shrugged and tossed his helmet into the back of the truck. "Jo gets left with the alcoholic mess that's his dad. Jo had to pony up to pay for Serenity's surgery and Jo's the one who gets dumped like a piece of trash while they bound off." He sighed, "There's times where I can see that in Serenity. She's sweet, she makes me feel like I'm the luckiest guy in Domino City, when she's here. But when she gets tired of playing girlfriend, she's off. No word, no goodbye. I usually hear about it from Jo."

Mai pulled her hand free and pursed her lips thoughtfully, "Doesn't she sleep around?"

Honda turned away, "Well...yeah. But...." He stopped and turned back. "I've gotta be the most pitiful jerk in Japan, huh? Me and Jo should form a support group."

"Hey, at least you know you've got a problem." Anzu reached out and touched his arm comfortingly. "Jo's still in denial."

Yugi

"Hey, Yami!" Yugi tossed his books down on his desk and threw himself onto his bed. _Yami, hey we got mail!_ Yugi called tapping on his darkness' door.

As he expected, there was no answer. There hadn't been an answer for nearly a week. Not a peep. He hadn't seen his yami since the brief moment at the Renaissance Faire, when the pharaoh had taken one look at himself and disappeared. No sleepy yami curled in the chair watching the morning news. No silent laughter when he told a joke. No warm voice answering his calls. Nothing.

_Yami, we've been invited to go to a convention for Duel Monsters._ He tried one more time, waiting for an answer. After a moment of silence he turned away and returned to the waking world.

Okay, angst galore in this chappie, but it's ohhhh so much fun to make up after a fight....Authoress looks at Jonouchi and Kaiba....wouldn't you agree guys?

Review please. What do you guys think of the new, improved Anzu?? How about Honda's getting a personality and new hair? Any comments??


	3. A Time to Relax

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

Emergence

Chapter 3: A Time to Relax

Yugi-Morning

Yugi pulled himself out of bed and slumped down the stairs to the kitchen to eat breakfast. It was now day eight, and his yami was still missing. Or was it day nine. Ten? Maybe it was seven. He really wasn't sure. Yesterday, he had been sure it was Saturday, only to be hauled out of bed by his grandpa with only ten minutes to get to school. Grandpa had left him alone this morning, so he felt relatively safe that it was the weekend. He shook his head and stumbled down the stairs.

As he passed the living room, he automatically turned on the news for his yami and walked into the kitchen to scrounge for his meal. He hummed softly to himself as he dug into the refrigerator and found the bread. He frowned at the eggs clustered neatly in their holder, then reached for a jar a peanut butter.

He straightened and heard the unmistakable sounds of the beginning of soft mournful piano music coming from the TV. _Ooops, gotta change channels, Yami hates soaps._

He pattered back out to the living room and flipped the channel to ESPN, just as the stock market report from their Asian desk started. _Oh, good. He hasn't missed it. _ He set the remote down and wandered back to the kitchen. He quickly put two slices of bread into the toaster and leaned back against the counter.

_Good morning, aibou._

Yugi jumped, spinning around to see Yami slumping tiredly in the doorway. He blinked a few times, wondering if his sleep fuzzed brain was imagining that his dark half was there. Yami didn't disappear, he remained leaning, exhaustedly on the door frame.

_YAMI!_ It only took a second and he was between their soul rooms wrapping his arms around his dark. _Where have you been?! I have been so worried! Are you all right?_

Yami sighed and gathered his light close, resting his head on the smaller one's soft hair. _Yes, aibou. I am fine. Are you well?_

_Yes, yes, of course. Yami? Where have you been?_ Yugi buried his nose against his dark, inhaling the clean, musky scent of his other. Then pulled away and started patting Yami frantically, checking if he was okay, reassuring himself he was really there. _Are you sure you're not hurt or anything?_

Yami stilled his light's hands. _I am sure aibou. I am fine._

Yugi smiled up at him, as tears leaked from his eyes, then threw himself back into Yami's arms, wrapping his arms tight around his waist. _Where were you? You were gone for so long..._

_Away._ Yami closed his eyes, taking comfort in his hikari's presence. He had tried to stay away, to let his hikari go, to let him for once, have a normal life without a irritable, stubborn spirit intruding into his world. His beloved light deserved that. He deserved having all the good this world had to offer, without having to share with a..._Parasite_. Yami flinched at the word, but couldn't deny it's truthfulness.

So he had stayed away. Tried to let go, to slide into the shadows and let Yugi live the life he was meant to live. He had stayed away just long enough to make him realize how desperately he needed his hikari. If he had spent anymore time away, the shadows would have engulfed him completely. Even now, wrapped safely in his light's arms, he could feel them pulling at him, singing soft promises in his ears, whispering of delights, of rest, of power, of freedom. He was frightened what would happen if he gave in to those tempting murmurs, frightened of what he would become, what he would do.

_Yami? Where?_ Yugi's voice interrupted his thoughts, making him realize the shadows were still blurring his mind. That Yugi had been chattering at him nearly nonstop and he'd missed most of it.

_The Shadow Realm, Yugi._ Yami lifted his head and kissed his light's temple softly. _I am sorry if I worried you._

Yugi lifted his head and kissed him back. _As long as your back, it's alright._ Yugi looked closely at his dark, noting the tense set of his mouth, the sad, almost lost look in his eyes but mostly, he noticed the shadows. They lurked in his yam's eyes, dimming their brilliant ruby to a dark, dull crimson. _I missed you Yami. _He lifted a hand and gently ran his fingertips across Yami's face. _Did I do something Yami? Did I make you leave?_

_No, little love. _Yami sighed, kissing Yugi's fingertips as they touched his lips. _There is nothing you can do, that would make me want to leave you._ He smiled into his light's eyes, he could tell the smile wasn't a complete success by Yugi's expression. _I needed to find an answer to a question. Now I know._

_What question?_ Yugi asked as he let his hand fall to the place over Yami's heart.

_One that I should never have asked._ Yami pulled away, staggering a bit on the way to his door. _I need to go rest aibou. I am very...weary... and you're toast is burning._

Yugi watched as his dark retreated to his room. _Yami?_

_Later, aibou. If you need me, I will be in by bedroom._ Yami slipped inside his door and disappeared, leaving the door ajar behind him.

Yugi straitened and looked around the kitchen with a tender, relieved smile on his face. _Welcome back, love._

Jonouchi- Afternoon

"Just give it up Jo." Kaiba smirked watching his lover try to work his way out of the bind he was in. It really amazed him sometimes, the lengths his love would go through, just to win at a game. Any game. Even a game he had no clue how to play.

"Shad'up. I think I got it." Jonouchi twisted his fingers and flipped his hands, only to find himself trapped in the resulting mess. He pulled his fingers, yanking at the ensnaring strands, only to find himself even more bound than before. "Yeaaaargh! Who the hell invented this?! Sadists?"

Kaiba's lip twitched as he suppressed a evil smile. "It's a kids game Jo. Small children play it."

"Aaaargh! Evil, evil kids." Jonouchi yanking his fingers trying to free them from the string that now trapped them into a knot.

Honda looked up from where he was sprawled on the grass reading _Moby Dick _for World Literature class. Surprisingly, it wasn't a bad book, just as long as you didn't mind the story not going anywhere, the characters not really doing anything, bizarre and pointless incidents and a lot of odd, moody philosophizing about fish. "Not just kids, Jo. Girls. As in small women. Of course it's evil and sadistic."

Kaiba leaned back against a tree, watching his lover try to gnaw his way to freedom. It was a lovely day at the park. Inventory at Kaiba Corp. was over, everything was running smoothly, Mokuba and Yuai were off at the Domino Museum trying to implant culture into his little brother's head, and he had nothing more pressing to do than watch Jo try to figure out how to make cat's cradles with an old shoelace. A small grin slipped past his barriers as Jonouchi fell over onto the grass, growling and chewing for all he was worth. He momentarily wondered if he should take out his pocket knife and cut Jo free, but smothered the impulse. Why ruin perfectly good entertainment? _Note to self, next time you want to tie Jo up, just hand him a shoe lace._

Honda flipped a page, glanced at Jonouchi and looked questioningly at Kaiba. Noting the CEO looked completely content to watch Jo struggle, he returned to his book, absently brushing his hair out of his face.

Jonouchi glowered at Kaiba, "Look, I know ya got a pocket knife on ya. Get this off!"

Kaiba shrugged, "Left it at home."

"Why the hell did you do that?" Jonouchi bit down on the string and tried to tug it over his knuckle.

"I didn't think I needed it." He kept his face still, smothering the smile that wanted to sneak it's way back out. _Lovely day. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. Jo is practicing bondage. What more could a man want?_

Jonouchi smiled as the knot loosened, then yelped when it slipped down over his wrists binding them tightly together. Kaiba gave in and started laughing. It wasn't the nicest laugh he'd ever heard from his koi. He glowered back and resumed chomping on the shoelace. _Who knew they were so tough? Damn shoelace. Damn Kaiba, forgetting his pocket knife. Damn it all to..._"Eeeek."

Kaiba blinked, amazed. Jonouchi had actually managed to tie his hands to his mouth. _How the hell did he manage that? If things keep up like this Jo might actually kill himself with that shoelace. Second note to self, get Jo velcro sneakers._

Honda looked up from his book again, "I have a pair of nail cutters, would that help?"

Jonouchi frantically tried to nod yes, then stopped as a stray loop threatened to wrap around his throat. Honda set the book down, dug in his pocket and pulled out his nail clippers, gesturing Jo to come closer. Kaiba sighed over his lost entertainment, but considering Jo was in danger of committing suicide via a rather innocent piece of string, he couldn't very well complain. It took only a few quick clips and Jo was free. Honda returned to his book and Jo flopped to the ground at Kaiba's side.

"Damn shoelace." Jo panted, tossing the remains of the insidious shoelace onto the ground.

"Don't litter." Kaiba brushed a stray bit off his pants leg.

"I'll pick 'em up after I get the pleasure of tramping them into the ground." Jonouchi leaned back and stretched out closing his eyes, "Later, though."

"Did fighting the dangerous string wear you out?" Honda snickered from behind his book.

"Shud'up or die." Jonouchi grumbled, not bothering to look at his friend.

"Is that anyway to talk to you're savior? I could have left you there, you know." Honda flipped a page, glancing at his prone buddy.

Jonouchi picked up a piece of shoelace and hit him with it. "Leave off. That thing was possessed."

Honda brushed it away, with a yawn. "Uh-ha, possessed."

Jonouchi rolled over and eyed Kaiba. "You're being quiet."

"You're not." Kaiba closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling in a long sigh.

"Hmmmm." Jonouchi pillowed his head on his crossed forearms. "It's a good day."

"Better appreciate it." Kaiba peeked through lowered eyelids at Jonouchi, "I'm going to be busy for the next few weeks."

"Hmm?" Jonouchi looked up, "I thought you wanted to go to that convention."

"Don't have time." Kaiba shrugged, "Now that inventory is complete, I've got to start chasing down some other little housekeeping chores. Departmental budgets that have amazingly gone astray, inventory that is either hoarded in one spot that belongs in another or missing completely, specs on the new VR stadium, upgrading R and D. That sort of thing."

Jonouchi frowned. "I thought you said you were going to take it easy for a bit."

"I am." Kaiba shrugged. "If you want to go to the convention, I'm sure Yugi's invited too. Go with him."

Jonouchi shook his head. "Nah, wouldn't be fun without you there." _And I'm not leaving you alone, to work yourself sick, again._

Kaiba closed his eyes again, feeling relieved, "Suit yourself."

"You going Honda?" Jonouchi reached over and tapped his friends foot.

"Can't. Got a race that weekend." Honda rubbed his eyes and turned another page.

"Wonder if Yug is going." Jonouchi yawned and shifted into a more comfortable position to enjoy the warmth of the sun. "Gotta remember to call him later."

Yugi- Evening

Yugi quietly opened the door to Yami's soul room and peered carefully inside. The door had been left open, and that was usually Yami's way of saying he was welcome to come in if he wanted. He padded softly in and quietly headed toward his yami's bedroom. He didn't want to disturb his other, Yami had really looked wrung out when he had appeared. He just wanted to make sure he was...well...there. He came to the correct door and carefully nudged it open.

The room, as usual, hadn't changed. Soft gold light warmed the sandstone walls; white bedding tumbled in disarray off the golden framed bed, a child's toy lay tipped over on a huge, white fur rug, and a soft breeze fluttered through sheer linen drapes bringing the sounds and smells of the great Nile through the balcony doors. However, this time something was missing.

"Yami?" Yugi couldn't see him, he walked over to the balcony and peered out into the Egyptian night. "Yami?"

No one. No answer. _He wouldn't have left again. Right??_ Yugi looked around again. He was sure his dark had said...."Yami!"

Yugi quickly sent his mind out searching along the bond that connected him with the other half of his soul. _Yami! Where are you!_

He got a muzzy feeling not far away, but definitely not in this room. Frowning slightly with worry, Yugi quickly exited the room and started hunting for his soul partner. The hazy feeling seemed to come from down a dark, rather gloomy corridor. Yugi bypassed the closed doors without a thought, they were mostly traps and deceptions, some housed odd items, trinkets and symbols that Yami had collected, others held wisps of memories that were best left undisturbed. He finally came to a door that was left open, soft sounds of dripping water tinkled from within.

Yugi stepped through and found himself in a garden. Soft sunlight from overhead was filtered through a silken canopy, lush flowers swayed merrily in the steamy air and a small manmade waterfall plummeted down a high wall to break against artfully placed rocks that edged the sides of a shallow, sandy pool.

Sitting with his back against the a rock that had been sculpted into a reclining seat, was Yami. His head was tossed back, his hair plastered wetly down his back, and his eyes were closed.

Yugi smiled and walked around the edge of the pool. "Yami, love, some day I swear you're going to drown yourself, falling asleep like this."

One dark red eye opened and a smile tugged at Yami's lips. "Not asleep." His eyes fluttered closed again. "Not yet, at least."

Yugi knelt down next to him and ran his hand through his yami's wet hair. "You should come out now. You'll turn into a raisin."

Yami opened one eye and peered at his hikari, then lifted one hand out of the water and examined his wrinkled fingers, "Too late."

Yugi stood up and looked around. A bathing sheet was neatly folded on a nearby rock. He picked it up, spread it and held it out to his dark. "Come on Yami, time to dry off and go to bed."

Yami sighed, submerged himself one last time, then stood up and walked out of the pool.

Yugi admitted, that he loved moments like this. His yami was beautiful, all gold, shadow and sleek muscle. His dark, thick hair still weighted down with water emphasizing his elegant neck, slender bones of his collar winging back to beautifully carved shoulders, back straight, toned muscles moving sleekly under gold skin, slender hips, a shadow of dark hair tracing a path down to his member, long legs, slender feet. Beautiful. Proud. His.

He wrapped his dark in the sheet and hugged him, nuzzling a kiss against the wet hair. "My poor, tired raisin."

Yami kissed him back. "Bed, love, tease later, bed now."

Yugi tugged his tired dark out into the corridor and down to the bedroom, where Yami collapsed tiredly on the bed, pulling Yugi down with him.

Yami's dark, shadow haunted eyes fluttered closed as he held Yugi close. "Will you stay?"

"Always."

Review please.

One question: What do you hate most about OCs? I have my opinions but I'd love to hear yours. And while your thinking about it, here's a few stories I'd like to recommend. This is sorted by alphabet folks not by my favorites, I hate to play favorites... but....Dugfin turning Bakura into a teacher....it still makes me giggle.....

Yu-Gi-Oh!

_Insert Cool Yu-Go-Oh! Related Title _by DugFin- I won't spoil it, but it's one of my top favs. and it just keeps getting better as it goes. (still in progress)

_Come What May _by Lomelindi- this will make you cry... I honestly needed lots of tissues at the end and nearly wanted to rewrite Chrysalis to have a Seto/Yami pairing. (complete)

_Dreamcatcher_ by Lomelindi- this is the sequel that made me squeal in joy. Bow down and worship Lomelindi, she's got to be at least a minor fan-fiction deity. (still in progress)

_Bastet's Child _by Moerae- light, funny, gotta love Yugi as a kitten. I normally hate these kinds of fics. But this was just so damn good! (complete)

_The Future of the Past _by Sanjuno- this is one that has just appeared and it's terrific. Give it a try! The Seto/Jonouchi lemons are hot, hot, hot. (still in progress)

Rurouni Kenshin

_Bitter Betrayal, Sweet Surrender_ by Buffybot76- I almost swore off writing yaoi after reading this, a fire extinguisher will be needed after reading it. (complete)

_A Certain Clarity _by Franzi- Quite possibly the best mystery story I've read on mediaminer. Give it a try. (complete)

_When You and I Collide _by Yasminm- Oh mama, this one is just too hot, nearly spontaneous combustion time. (complete)


	4. Things Change

Notes: Honda's views of dating are influenced by some of my friends from the east. It isn't all that uncommon, apparently, to choose you're intended during high school and marry right after graduation. It is very, very important to have a son asap. I might be wrong in this, but I'm basing it on what a friend in Korea once told me.

Ribbon is from the manga, Duel 7: The Face of Truth. Her real name is Miho Nosaka, nick name Ribbon, and she is the student librarian at Domino High School. She is not a OC.

Emergence

Chapter 4: Things Change

Yami & Yugi

Yami woke up, his mind still hearing the soft whispers of the shadows calling to him, calling him back. Even in his dreams, they called to him, even with Yugi so close, their voices hissed into his mind. He shivered and cuddled closer to his light, what would he become if he gave in? Would he become the monster he feared, or where the whispers telling the truth? That finally he would gain his freedom, his life, all in exchange for walking into the shadows, becoming one with them. He buried his face in Yugi's hair, who made a soft kittenish sound in his sleep and rolled over, wrapping his arms around Yami and snuggling.

He would be lying to say that he didn't find the shadows offers tempting. A part of him welcomed them. No longer would he be some pathetic spirit, reduced to tagging along at his light's heels like a stray dog that had finally found a kind voice. No more borrowing a body to even play a simple game. He could be free. Free to walk in the world, stand next to his hikari, to have people actually look him in the face and see only him, not Yugi. Free to become the person he once was. Really, what did the title King of Games mean in this empty era? He knew about this world and how it ran. He hadn't been idle since he had awoken. He could easily match, if not beat Kaiba, in the world's arena. It would not take that much time or effort to rebuild a kingdom to replace the one he had lost.

Mostly though, he would have Yugi. He would be able to see his light outside of the half life of the puzzle. He would be able to see him, touch him, do small things for him, that others took for granted. Like holding his hand...

Still, the shadows could be lying to him. They were full of deceit. To do as they promised, they would have him at their mercy, helpless. The gods only knew what they would do to him then. They could re-make him into a monster, a thing, a puppet. They could return him to the world, only to have him destroy it. Destroy Yugi. There was no way he was going to risk that. Without Yugi, he would be dead, not physically, but inside, his heart, his soul. Yugi was his light, his salvation, the only thing at times to keep him from going completely, shriekingly insane.

Yami gently kissed his light's forehead, looking at his light's sleeping face._ But what to do? Be selfish, hold on to you? Let you go? Keep pushing you at Yuai? If only. If only I..._ Yami paused, sitting up. These weren't new thoughts, but this time... The image of his light poking around a convenience store looking for horoscopes to help Ryou. The embarrassed, blushing explanation of how they were trying to trick the spirit of the Millennium Ring. _If only **we**... You and your fellow hikaris can group together to solve problems. Why not us? Why can't **we**...Bakura, as erratic as he is, knows this world's technology; Marik has access to the Ishtar's library, probably the most comprehensive magical library since Carthage; and I know the shadow realm better than either of them. Surely, between the three of us..._

"Oh sweet Ra, that might actually work!" Yami bounced out of bed, forgetting in his excitement that his light had been wrapped snuggly around his waist.

Yugi woke up as he face planted in the soft white rug next to Yami's bed. "Hey! Oof! Oooow!"

Yami snapped around, looking wide eyed and excited, "Oh! Aibou! I am sorry." He knelt down and scooped up his light, who was rubbing his head, and deposited him back on the bed.

"Yami! Couldn't you warn me?" Yugi watched his dark scamper across the room excitedly and disappear for a second, then reappear with paper and ink. "Uuuhh? Yami?"

"This could really work.. All we need...just have..." Yami sat down at the small table and carelessly brushed the clutter of jeweled pins and jars off to the side. "Have to remember..." He started writing.

Yugi, still rubbing his head, slid out of bed and walked over to peer over Yami's shoulder. "You are really excited."

Yami blinked absently at him then broke into a huge, happy grin. "I think I found a way to see if the other yamis and I could finally have our own bodies."

"What!" Yugi leaned farther over Yami's shoulder to peer at the scribbled hieroglyphics, "How?"

"Division of labor, Marik can study ancient texts, Bakura can study the internet, and I can search the shadow realm. If we work as a team, we should be able to find the information we need." Yami leaned back over and started writing again.

Yugi frowned, "Yami, love, as much as I would love for you to have a body. Are you sure it's wise for you to go back to the shadow realm again so soon? You really..."

"I'll be fine." Yami looked up into Yugi's worried face. "I won't go back to the area where I was before. In a way, I'll be going farther into the realm, but in a much more.. stable area."

Yugi looked into Yami's shadowy eyes and hesitated. His dark was so excited, so pleased with himself, but... "You'll be careful, right?"

Yami laughed and got to his feet, he scooped is hikari back up, nearly dancing back to the bed, "Don't worry, little light. I'll be fine, and once I have a body, I shall be more than fine." He playfully tossed Yugi back onto the bed and pounced on him. "Do you think you could deal with me living in your world, love?"

Yugi looked up and saw the hope in his yami's dark eyes. An answering flutter of hope landed in his heart and he couldn't help but wrap his arms around his dark and smile back, trying to push a small worm of worry out of his mind. He pulled his dark down, luxuriating in the feel of his weight against him. Nothing to worry about...

Yami laughed against his throat, lips pressed against his pulse. "Aibou, can you handle me?"

Yugi giggled back, sliding his hands across Yami's shoulders, "Not yet but give me a minute..."

Yami snickered and nipped his chin, "Such a thing to say..." Yami nibbled down to his ear as his fingers danced down Yugi's sides.

Yugi nibbled back, shifting to catch is yami's lips and sighing softly. "You know Yami. I always wanted to try something..."

Yami lifted his head to smile into Yugi's eyes. "And what's that?"

"Oh, just this." Yugi shifted his weight again and flipped them both, with him now perched on his yami's chest. "You know for some reason. I always end up flat on my back while you have all the fun up here."

Yami stretched out under his hikari's slight weight, smiling as he crossed his arms under his head. "Well, now that you're there what are you going to do to me?"

Yugi looked innocently off to the side, as if thinking hard, while he placed his hands almost absently on Yami's chest, fingers tracing in small circles. "Well, let me think..." He blinked and tipped his head thoughtfully, fingers lightly dancing across to velvet nipples and twirling in around softly. "There are so many things...should I first? Hmmm..." He wiggled slightly back till his bottom rubbed his yami's manhood, still looking thoughtful.

Yami laughed to himself, he really did have an adorable hikari, but he wasn't in the mood to play too much. If Yugi wanted to be on top, that was fine, but it had it's limits. He lifted his hands and wrapped them around Yugi's waist, letting his fingers gently stroke along his lover's sides teasingly. "Do you need a few ideas aibou?"

Yugi shook his head, leaning over and nipping his dark's lips lightly. "Nope. I think I have a plan."

Honda

Honda looked at the picture of Serenity that he had on the inside door of his locker and carefully peeled it off. He held it for a second, studying her delicate face, her beautiful smile, then tucked it faced down under a pile of books and closed the door. It was time to move on.

It wasn't like he hated Serenity. Part of him loved her, but he would be graduating in a couple of years. Then there would be college. Then work. He didn't have time to play games. He didn't have time to wait for Serenity to make up her mind whether she wanted to play musical beds, or wanted to be serious. If he didn't come up with a suitable girlfriend, who would later become a suitable wife, there was more than a slight chance his mother and grandparents would find one for him.

He shuddered, thinking of the last "nice girl" his mother had introduced him to. She had sat in their living room simpering idiotically about the kimono her father had bought for her. Every stitch had been described, every flower, every inch of the obi, every damn detail, and delivered in a voice that could have cracked the frame of his bike. If that was the sound of his future, he was going to take a detour.

No more waiting around like a door mat to welcome Serenity home. If she wanted to be a part of his life, she was going to have to change, because if he wasn't looking forward to being screeched into deafness, he wasn't looking forward to becoming like Jonouchi's dad, either. Drinking himself numb to forget that his love was out screwing another man.

He walked around the corner toward his class and nearly collided with a herd of girls, who looked at him with wide startled eyes, then giggled and darted off into the untamed wilds of the school. It had happened a lot in the last few weeks, but this time there was a straggler.

"Hi, Honda." Ribbon smiled shyly at him before becoming very interested in the floor. She hadn't changed since that last time he'd seen her, before the whole Duelist Kingdom disaster. Her face was just as sweet, her light, platinum blond hair swept up into a pony tail with a soft, blue, silk ribbon tying it back.

"Hi, Ribbon." _Kami must have heard me and sent her. Now just don't blow it._ "How have you been? I haven't seen you for awhile."

"I've been fine." She looked up at him. "I had to stay home with my mother. She's been...well, rather ill."

"Oh, I hope she's better." Honda gazed almost hypnotized by the most incredible blue eyes he had ever seen. Why hadn't he noticed that Ribbon had such lovely eyes before?

"Oh yes, thank you." Ribbon bobbed her head, "She's much better." She looked down at the ground again. "I just wanted to tell you..."

"Yes?" Honda stepped closer, hoping she'd look back up.

"When I turned you down before...I really would have like to say yes, but I...well, with mother sick and all, it wasn't a good time." She looked back up at him.

Honda nodded, stupidly, while all around him clouds broke up, angels descended to sing arias, firework went off, the sun shone twice it's normal brilliance, stars danced, and tiny cupids zipped around his head shooting miniature arrows at gleaming hearts. "I don't suppose now would be a better time to ask?"

Ribbon blushed, but nodded her head. "Yes, now would be a much better time."

Lunch

Jonouchi sat his boxed lunch down on the table, looking over to where Honda was sitting next to Ribbon. He scowled as the brunette laughed at something the girl said and leaned closer to talk to her. He dropped his pack on the floor and turned to have a few words with his friend, only to be hauled back.

"Sit." Kaiba yanked hard, causing him to land on the seat next to him with a thud.

"He's dating my sister. He shouldn't..." Jonouchi glared at his friends back.

"Dating? Really?" Kaiba shook his head.

"What does that mean?" Jonouchi switched his glare to his lover.

Kaiba ignored him and opened his lunch. In a instant of masochism, he'd mentioned to his cook that he wanted more fish in his diet, and the man had taken him at his word. Kaiba stared queasily at the dried fish that stared back up at him out of dull smoked eyes and wondered what had ever possessed him to open his mouth. He glanced over at Jonouchi's lunch, wondering if he'd trade. The blond, however, looked furious.

"What the hell did you mean?" Jonouchi turned back around to stare daggers at Honda's back.

Kaiba debated, if he didn't calm Jonouchi down, there was no way he'd be able to trade him for his lunch. If he let him go after Honda, he could probably snag at least half of Jo's vegetable rolls and leave him with the dried fish. If he told Jo the truth, he'd be stuck with the fish, no sex and a long, long week of grumbling. _So lying is beneath me, but then...a little misdirection couldn't hurt._ "You're the one who kept complaining about what he and your sister do on dates." He nodded toward Ribbon. "Let him work out his hormones on her."

"That's not the point." Jonouchi snapped back, not bothering to turn his glare on Kaiba, "He..."

"Should work out his hormones on your sister?" Kaiba snuck his dried fish into Jonouchi's stack of bento boxes and snagged the top box in the stack.

"Hey!" Jonouchi turned to glower at Kaiba. "Don't talk about my sister like that. She's too young to even think those thoughts."

"Honda isn't." Kaiba looked at his new won booty and smirked happily. Cucumber rolls. Very good.

"Honda isn't what?" Yugi sat down, sliding his lunch tray onto the table across from Jonouchi. Yuai slid in next to him, nodding hello to her boss.

"Nothing." Jonouchi grumped and gave up trying to incinerate Honda with is eyes. He opened his lunch and moaned. _Not smoked fish. Gah. How disgusting_. "Anybody want a smoked fish?"

"Nope. It's mystery meat and slimy pasta for me, thanks." Yugi shook his head.

Yuai shook her head, "I had one of those in my lunch yesterday. It's your turn today."

Jonouchi slumped, "Honda's over making nice, nice with Ribbon."

Yugi nodded, "Yeah, isn't that neat. I thought she didn't want..."

"It's not neat. He's supposed to be dating my sister." Jonouchi growled, tearing the smoked fish into shreds with his fingers.

"But doesn't Serenity slee... Yugi began, only to have Yuai's hand slapped over his mouth.

"Hush, don't tell him that." She whispered into his ear.

"But.."

"No, he doesn't want to know."

_Listen to her aibou. Jonouchi doesn't want to hear that Honda has a very good reason for wanting to date another. Let it go._ Yami settled next to him on the bench.

_Okay, but someday, someone needs to tell him._ Yugi shook his head and nodded at Yuai to let him go. She nodded back and removed her hand, replacing it with a quick kiss, before turning away to talk to Kaiba.

_Let Honda. It is between them, not us._ Yami glanced over to where Kaiba and Yuai were now trading pieces of their bento boxes across the table. _If you want more of that butterfish, love, now seems to be the time to get it._

Yugi jerked around and flung himself into the lunch negotiations.

Jonouchi sighed and started nibbling on the fish. "Hey Yug. You going to the convention?"

"Convention?" Yugi looked up from his newly acquired slices of butterfish. He had traded his fruit cup and his Jell-O for them and three smoked salmon rolls, that he was contemplating trading for half of Yuai's thermos of lemonade.

"Yeah, the Duel Monsters convention in a couple weeks." Jonouchi tried hard not to notice how close Honda was sitting to Ribbon.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot." Yugi shuffled his salmon and his milk over to Yuai, receiving half her lemonade and five rice crackers. "Sure, I'm going. How about you?"

"Nah, got stuff I got to do that weekend." Jonouchi tried not to see how Ribbon smiled up at Honda.

"Duel Monsters?" Yuai picked up the four pieces of butterfish she had traded with Kaiba, in exchange for Yugi's milk. "Isn't that a game?"

Kaiba lifted his head, surprised, "You're dating Motou and you don't know about Duel Monsters?" He looked over to where Yugi was suddenly fascinated by his rice cakes. "Afraid she'll beat you?"

"I was just trying to be nice. Remember Bakura? Marik? Crazed magician guy?" Yugi squirmed.

Kaiba looked thoughtful. What an opportunity, and it had been running around his house nagging at his brother to brush his teeth, all this time. Jonouchi, as much as he loved him, wasn't much of an opponent when it came to dueling. Yami and Yugi were his greatest challenge, but he'd never considered Yuai. Yuai, who could beat Yugi in other games... Yuai who had somehow not been introduced to Duel Monsters by the one person who should have taught her... He smiled wickedly to himself. He looked up at the girl, "I'll teach you after school," the wicked smile crept out as he imagined the pharaoh's reaction.

Yuai nodded enthusiastically as her eyes practically glowed with excitement. "Thanks Kaiba!"

If Kaiba had been able to see Yami's reaction, he wouldn't have been disappointed, but he would have been surprised at the pure anger in Yami's eyes. . _NO! How dare he put her in danger. He knows it isn't safe!_

Yugi jolted back into Yuai in surprise. _Yami? Calm down! I know you said not to teach Yuai the game, but I'm sure she isn't going to suddenly suck our souls out and send us all to the shadow realm._

Yami had stood up and was shaking in rage, his eyes flashing a hot, fiery, red. _That's not the point._

"Yugi, is something wrong?" Yuai was looking at him worriedly.

Kaiba sat across the table looking smug. Yugi wondered how smug he'd look if he could see Yami right now. The spirit looked terrifying. Shadows were starting to creep out from under the table, gathering around his yami. He could feel the crackle of shadow magic across the back of his neck. The sennen eye glowed on his dark's forehead while his eyes became dark gleaming shadows.

_Baka, pharaoh! Stop making a scene at lunch! You're spoiling my tenshi's appetite._ Bakura snapped from a nearby table, where Ryou was now staring wide eyed at them. His normally pale skin was now a few shades paler and he was shivering as he sensed the power being gathered so near him. The spirit of the Millennium Ring stood defensively between the enraged pharaoh and his own terrified light.

_The idiot priest thinks it's funny to teach Yuai Duel Monsters!_ Yami snarled back as Yugi suddenly dove under the table, pulling Yuai after him.

_Then kill him after lunch! You'll just make a mess in here._ Bakura growled. _You've already scared the shit out of your hikari. Do you need to traumatize mine too?_

Yami looked around, noticing that Jonouchi had joined Yugi and Yuai under the table and all three were now frantically crawling under the row of tables for the exit. The only one who seemed unaffected was Kaiba, who sat wearing a cold dragon smile. _If anything happens priest, I'll feed you to your own dragons._

After Lunch

"You are **definitely** getting time out, Yami." Yugi slammed the door of his locker, leaving the Millennium Puzzle locked in it's dark insides.

"Man, what got into him?" Jonouchi was leaning against the lockers on the other side of the hall.

"I really don't know. He just lost it when Kaiba told Yuai he'd teach her Duel Monsters." Yugi stepped away from the locker, looking at it sternly.

"Why didn't you teach her yourself then?" Jonouchi scooped up his books and fell in next to Yugi, heading toward class.

"Yami said not to, that after the whole nightmare of what Bakura did during Duelist Kingdom, he didn't want her to learn the game." Yugi bit his lip, "I've never seen him loose control like that."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Kaiba can be the most fucking, irritating bastard when he wants to be." Jonouchi grinned, "He makes a living out of making people loose it."

Yugi shook his head. "Yami was gone, into the shadow realm, for nearly a week. I think something happened to him. He hasn't been himself. It's like his feelings are scattered all over. I don't know what he'll be like next."

Jonouchi shrugged, "Don't worry about it. If it keeps up, ask Isis, she'll know. He's probably just venting a little steam."

Yugi seriously doubted that if Jonouchi could have seen Yami at lunch, that he'd stick with his venting steam explanation. He opened the door to their class and walked in. Half the class was already there, sitting on their desks, chatting.

Yuai was talking to Haski, showing him her notes and pointing to something on the paper. Haski was leaning close to her, his face almost against her hair, as he looked down at the paper. Yuai looked up, nearly bumped her nose into Haski's chin and startled back, stepping way from him with a look of something close to fright on her face.

Jonouchi stepped forward, "Hey, back off Haski, don't get so close. She doesn't like being crowded."

"Ooops, sorry." He looked apologetically at Yuai, noticing her nervousness. "I didn't realize I was so close till you looked up. I am really very sorry."

"Yeah, yeah." Jonouchi sauntered past, pulling Yuai in his wake, away from Haski with Yugi bringing up the rear, watching the other boy blush.

"I really am sorry Yugi. Can you tell her that for me?" Haski caught his arm as he passed, "You know how softly she speaks, I was just trying to figure out what Mr. Ito lectured about yesterday, and I guess I got too close."

Yugi smiled, "Don't worry about it, Haski. She just wasn't expecting you to be there like that. If you want you can look over my notes."

Haski nodded, relieved, "That really would help. I've been having problems keeping all the prime ministers straight. I never can remember who did what under which emperor."

Yugi pulled out his notes, laughing, "I keep getting them mixed up with the shoguns. On the last test, I actually wrote down that our present prime minister was the last Takugawa shogun."

Jonouchi pulled Yuai down the aisle to his seat and turned around. "You okay now?"

Yuai nodded, "He just startled me. And after having to crawl out of the cafeteria under the tables for some godforsaken reason, I deserve the right to be a bit jumpy today."

Jonouchi rubbed the back of his head, trying to figure out how to explain all this. He had no clue how to explain the electric tingle that had marched up his spine at lunch; or that when Yugi had dove under the table, yanking her with him, that he knew that something painful, and nasty and filled with shadows was about to happen; or that sometimes a simple card game could be the most dangerous thing in the world. Failing all that he tried something else. "Are you going to go to the convention?"

"Excuse me? Convention?" Yuai wondered if Jonouchi had smacked his head on one of the tables. Hard.

"Sure, Yugi is going to that Duel Monsters convention. If you want to learn the game, you could probably pick up some cool cards there, as well as attend some workshops on game techniques." Jonouchi cocked his head to the side. "You'd be able to spend an entire weekend with Yugi, playing games, learning Duel Monsters, away from Mokuba...."

Yuai laughed, "He's not that bad. He's just got too much intelligence and energy and not enough sense."

"Still, are you going to go?" Jonouchi watched as Yugi handed his notes over to Haski and walked over to them.

"Sure. Sounds fun." Yuai turned and hugged Yugi as he came up to them. "Jo thinks I should go to that convention you two were talking about."

Yugi hugged her back. "Great! I'll even help you pick out some cards." _If Yami calms down..._

The young man tossed himself down onto the sofa and flicked a strand of dark hair out of his eyes as he looked around the room. All their gear was neatly packed, stacked and organized, ready to go into storage as soon as the workmen arrived, which he was certain had been planned down to the last second. It was unnatural. Chaos should have reigned supreme. Gear should have been tossed everywhere, their clothes (which he knew for a fact were now clean, pressed and neatly stored to save them from undo damage or wrinkling) should have been draped across every surface and be in tangles underfoot, and instead of his sitting here, relaxing with a cold drink at his elbow, he, Drover, should be running hectically around trying to sort through the detritus of their rather odd life.

"This is fuckin' creepy." He heard his coworker, Tink, mutter, as the man gazed at the orderliness before them.

"Don't knock it dude." Another coworker dropped into a seat, running her hands through her short purple hair. Pease fluttered a ringed hand at the stacks of boxes "I like this a hella lot better then running around bouncing off the walls."

The reason for all the unnaturalness glided by, absently nodding as she walked over to the door and opened it, surprising the moving crew foreman who stood on the other side with his hand raised to knock. "Excellent." She handed him a sheaf of forms and tapped on the top paper. "Here are the instructions for storage. Please follow them."

The man blinked and nodded, "Sure thing, ma'am."

The workmen entered and boxes started being toted off, under the careful eye of the coordinating genius who had wrenched this order out of the swirls of madness that surrounded them.

"Babe. You really missed your calling." Drover called over, watching Jame consult a small palm-pilot.

"Excuse me?" Jame looked distractedly over at him. He could see the wheels in her mind turning, organizing something or other.

"In the land of the anal expulsives, babe, you're the queen anal retentive." Drover ducked as Pease whacked him with the back of her hand.

"Ignore him. He stayed up late watching the Learning Channel last night." Pease glowered at him, then sent Jame a smile.

"Yeah. But he's still right." Tink muttered then jumped as Pease swung on him.

Jame tucked her palm-pilot back into her pocket and walked over frowning. "I am not anal retentive."

"Babe. We love ya, we're your friends, we'd be lost without ya." Drover stood, taking a few strategic steps out of Pease's range. "But you're a compulsive organizer."

"Am not!" You should just see my e-mail. It's a disaster..." Jame flung herself down in Drover's abandoned seat, sulking.

The foreman walked back in, "That's it ma'am. We've got everything. We just need..."

Jame tossed a set of keys to him. "The one with the green is for the main gate, the orange is for the storage building and the yellow and blue are for the locks on the rooms. Have them back to me by six this evening, please."

The foreman nodded smiling at Drover, "Nice to see your business manager has things in hand." He nodded to Jame, "If you ever want a change of pace, our company could really use someone like you."

"What!" Jame bounced to her feet.

"Hey! A good executive assistant is hard to find." The man lifted his hands defensively and retreated out the door as Jame snarled in outrage. "It's not like I'm that Kaiba jerk. We're nice and we pay well."

"I am not an executive assistant!" Jame paced forward, murder in her eyes.

The foreman fled, "Sorry, sorry. Look gotta go. See ya."

Tink started laughing. Jame swung on him, glaring. "I am not an executive anything."

Pease struggled to keep a straight face, but a snicker worked it's way out, "That was priceless. I bet you could work for that Kaiba creep."

"I could not!" Jame turned on her with the look of a enraged panther going for it's prey.

"Babe, I bet you couldn't get him to fire you if you tried." Drover shook his head laughing at her, then jumped out of the way as Jame turned her attention to him.

"I bet I could..."

Authoress snickers evilly and scampers off to do more wicked things to innocent characters.....

Review please...This week's topic is...What is your favorite fan fictions? What makes you like a fan fic.? What makes you hate one?

**Thanks for reading everyone!**


	5. Weekends are Made for Having Fun

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. I get nothing from this except giggles and sore fingers.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

I admit before you even begin, Kaiba is more than a little OOC. I did this on purpose. If you read Chrysalis on MM. org you might have noticed I once asked if anyone would like to have a story about Kaiba getting a secretary. I decided to integrate that story into this one. Jame is NOT going to get romantically involved with anyone, she is here solely to annoy Kaiba and provide some comic relief as this story gets darker.

Emergence

Chapter 5: Weekends Were Made for Having Fun

Kaiba

Kaiba slumped down in his office chair and scowled at the security report that sat in front of him. It wasn't that he was really upset, actually part of him was insanely gleeful about the news, throwing a wild party in the back of his head, complete with noise makers, party streamers and dances of joy. The other part of his mind was trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do now.

"Who knew she had the brains?" he muttered to himself, nudging the file with a irritated finger.

Kado, with the new inventory and last quarter's audit in hand, had tracked down an embezzler in the heart of Kaiba Corp. The stunning new was...it was his secretary. The overdressed, blond, bunny rabbit had been quietly skimming off about three thousand a month for the last nine months, and reworking some of the departmental budgets that came across her desk to cover her crime. Usually, this would ensure not just immediate firing, but also Kaiba Corp. lawyers turning the embezzler into steak tartar, while Kaiba implemented a scorched earth policy on the idiot's life.

However, this was his secretary. Who was he going to get to replace her? Last time he checked there was no one in Japan, good, bad or insane, that would willingly take that position. He'd tried. The last place he contacted had screamed in horror and had his phone number blocked. At the place before that, the receptionist had fallen to the floor in a fit of hysterical laughter and they had to have an ambulance called to give her a sedative and some oxygen.

He swung his chair to face out his window, calculating his present secretary's actual take home pay, odds that he could find a competent secretary who would actually want to work for him and just how difficult it would be to work without a secretary. _Damn, this month I was going to finally do away with those assistants I inherited from the executive board. Now I have to do this instead._

Yamis

Bakura blinked. Marik blinked. Yami Yugi smiled.

They were sitting in the Shadow Realm, next to the glowing blue river that Yami Yugi loved. Marik was sprawled on his back under a tree that resembled a willow with tiny glowing blue flowers, that were really quite pretty, until you noticed that each shy blossom had teeth, a few were chewing small insects and tiny creatures that squealed sharply with each chomp. Bakura was sitting cross legged on the grass, idly playing with grass stems that left a delicate aroma of lavender on his fingers and Yami Yugi sat with his back against the tree trunk, occasionally poking the tree whenever it tried to eat him. The tree, recipient of about twenty small finger sized bruises, sulked and rained tiny silver leaves down on the trio that rested under it. The river lazed along, occasionally sending out a inquiring tentacle to see if anyone would volunteer to become lunch. No one had yet, but it was still hopeful.

"It will work. We just have to work together." Yami Yugi finished laying his plan before the other two yamis and waited for the outcome.

Marik looked suspiciously at the pharaoh, "You aren't going to start a togetherness-heart of the cards-we should all throw our arms around each other and sing Kumbiya speech, are you?"

The pharaoh looked at him steadily for a second then kicked him in the head with one steel toed boot. Marik smiled, reassured that all was as it should be in his world, and went back to watching tiny animals die painfully in the delicate flowers over his head, .

Bakura snorted, "What makes you think we can work together? Hell, we usually are trying our best to kill each other."

Yami Yugi shrugged, "I don't see why not, after all our hikaris..."

Marik suddenly sat up and whacked Yami Yugi's foot. Hard. Then turned so Bakura couldn't see his face and scowled at the pharaoh while looking pointedly at the thief.

Yami Yugi caught his sentence and changed it mid-stride without even a tiny break, "..would be much safer if we all had bodies and could interact in their realm."

Marik brushed Yami Yugi's foot a bit dramatically, then thumped back down to lay on the grass, "Sorry your pharaohness, one of those flowers was chewing on your boot."

Bakura growled, "When since have you cared?"

"Don't really, but I was thinking of stealing his shoes after I kill him." Marik yawned.

"Oh, this is going to work out great." Bakura grumbled.

Marik shrugged, "I think it could work. We have a common goal. You two want your old bodies back and I'd just like to have a body. Why not team up?"

"Maybe because you're a psycho-loony who wants to take over the world, murder us in our sleep and have wild sex with our hikaris, preferably on top of our dead bodies?" Bakura snapped, tossing a handful of grass at the blond yami.

Marik looked hurt, "You make it sound like it's bad."

"I am not having this conversation." Bakura shook his head.

Yami Yugi tried to pull the conversation back on track. "It could still work. It won't be like we are going to be handcuffed together. We just take our respective areas and make a through search, then we report the results to each other."

"How do we make sure one of us doesn't keep all the information to themselves." Bakura rubbed his fingers together, absently sniffing the lavender scent.

"If one of us shows up with a body, the other two kill him, after first torturing the information out of him." Marik smiled up at the tree, pleased with his contribution.

"Yay." Bakura hurrahed without any enthusiasm. "Count me in."

Marik bounced happily up. "Great! Let's get to work."

Yugi and Yuai

Yugi smiled at Yuai as they walked out of the movie and tossed their popcorn bucket into the trash. The movie, _The House that Dripped Blood_, had been about as scary as watching a candle melt. After all, little could really scare you once you've had your soul trapped in the Shadow Realm, had it sucked out twice, been stuck in two virtual worlds with certifiable whackos and had various monsters suddenly pop into your life out of a deck of cards. Yugi sighed, it was just too hard to get quality escapism these days.

"I still don't get why that idiot girl didn't just walk out of the house." Yuai swirled the last bit of her Slurpee around in her cup. "The whole thing could have been solved with a can of gas, a match and taxi fare."

Yugi laughed, "Oh, it wasn't that bad. I liked the bit where the clown came out of the closet and ran into the guy in the hockey helmet."

Yuai tossed her cup into the last garbage container as they left the building, "That was okay. At least, the clown didn't scream like a strangled rabbit when the hockey guy killed him with the food processor."

"Do you want something to eat? I'm starving." Yugi tugged her toward Pizza Heaven that was across the street from the cinema.

"Sure." Yuai grinned, "I can show you some of what Kaiba's been teaching me about that Duel Monsters game."

Kaiba

"You mean, someone actually submitted their resume? To Kaiba Corp.? To be my secretary?" Kaiba held the neatly printed sheet of paper, staring at it as if Ra had come down personally and blessed it, leaving his divine fingerprints on the document.

Tanaka nodded, "She walked in yesterday and handed it in."

"And she's sane?" Kaiba shook his head, "No, no. I don't want to know. Doesn't matter." He carefully laid the document reverently on his desk, stroking it with his fingertips, not noticing Tanaka looking at him worriedly. "Amazing. It's even spelled correctly. The last two couldn't even manage that."

"Why don't I set up a interview and get a background check done on her?" Tanaka backed slowly toward the door.

"Yes, that's fine. And type up the employment papers, just leave the salary blank. I'll fill it in later." Kaiba smiled blissfully, and in Tanaka's opinion, scarily, down at the resume.

"Okay, Mr. Kaiba, sir. Why don't I get right on that?" Tanaka had gained the door, just another two steps he could really put some distance between himself and his, again in his opinion, suddenly far to easy going boss, and said bosses sudden obsession with a piece of paper.

"Good idea. I want the interview today. Two pm. I want everything ready to hire her on my desk at one." Kaiba patted the resume, still wearing the same blissed out smile.

Tanaka bolted.

Kaiba didn't even notice his leaving.

Yamis

"Why can't I take the Shadow Realm? I know it just as well, if not better than you." Bakura slapped a curious tentacle irritably watching the river retract it with a soft bubble of sound.

"Because neither of us knows how to use computers. That's why." Yami Yugi snapped, brushing leaves off his head. "Solomon thinks they're evil, time sucking, wastes of money."

"Isis watched some freaky show where a demon was running loose in the internet and threw Malik's out the window." Marik scooped up the leaves the pharaoh bushed off and fed them to the tree's flowers, pleased with watching them essentially cannibalize themselves.

"Damn, why do I get the geek work?" Bakura scowled as another tentacle slithered toward him.

"Don't be so negative. Just think. Once you get a body, you can maim, torture and terrorize. Just like the old days." Marik plucked a flower and tossed it at Bakura, who swatted it midair, before it could bite him.

"I didn't maim, torture and terrorize. I starved, ran, hid in smelly cess pits that passed as the poor section of town and spent a lot of time plotting how to make him," Bakura nodded at Yami Yugi, "miserable."

"Well, at least you accomplished one career goal." The pharaoh tossed a handful of leaves at the tentacle causing it to retract violently. "I can't even die without you mucking it up."

"NOT. MY. FAULT." Bakura grabbed some leaves and tossed them into the river, which started bubbling madly. "I can't help it if you can't even figure out how to die correctly, you moronic, inbred..."

"Look, I love a good bloody brawl, but I would like to have a body before we slaughter each other off. More satisfying splatter patterns that way." Marik patted a flower and turned, walking off. "I'll start looking in the library." He looked over at Bakura, "Just remember though. If you, by some miracle manage to kill him," he nodded at Yami Yugi, "I get his boots."

Bakura glared at Marik's retreating back. "I say the first thing we do, when we get bodies, is kill him."

Yugi and Yuai

Yuai squirmed in her seat. She liked Yugi. He was the first boyfriend she ever had. He was absolutely adorable. He was sweet. He made her happy just by being near her. _What is wrong with me? He is probably the nicest guy on earth. Why can't I feel more than a urge to drag him off to play Mousetrap? Why do I have to consciously remind myself to kiss him? Am I missing some kind of important hormone or something?_

Yugi sat across from her examining her deck, unaware of her troubled stare. "These are some really nice cards. Did Kaiba give them to you?"

Yuai shook her head, clearing her thoughts, "No, he helped me pick them out though."

Yugi nodded flipping through the cards, then stopped, "Where did you find this one?" He held up a Dark Magician card.

"At the store." Yuai shrugged taking a bite of her pizza. "I didn't know if it was a good card or not. But considering Kaiba nearly had a seizure when he saw I had it, I thought it had to be okay."

Yugi nodded, "It's my favorite card. You should try to find Magical Hats to go with it."

"I don't remember seeing that." Yuai took another bite, "But if it's your favorite, why don't you take it. It's not doing me much good. Every time I try to play it you can practically see smoke coming out Kaiba's ears."

Yugi fingered the card thoughtfully, then replaced it in her deck. "Thanks, but I already have three in my deck, so I can't have another."

"Oh, okay." Yuai took a sip of soda. _Maybe I need a therapist? My screwed up past is interfering with my sexual identity or something like that?_

Yugi put her deck back in her card case and handed them back across the table. "Looks like your off to a good start." He grabbed a piece of pizza and bit in.

Yuai tucked her deck in her purse. _Maybe I'm gay, maybe I just like girls better. That's okay. Wait, wait. Hold on a sec.. Oh, Kami! What if I end up dating Anzu!_ She looked desperately at Yugi who was eyeing his soda as if expecting it to run off at any second.

"Did you order Pepsi or Dr. Pepper?" Yugi asked swallowing his pizza.

"I got Sprite." _Oh no! I'm going to end up with Anzu! Kami hates me, just look at my past! The only nightmare that hasn't happened is rolling around like a sweaty monkey with Anzu._

"Are you feeling alright? You look a bit green." Yugi took a gulp of his soda, watching Yuai with large concerned eyes.

"Maybe the pizza was a bad idea." Yuai felt a bit green. _Bad mental image! Bad! BAD!_

"Let's go home then." Yugi gulped down the last of his soda, waving to the waitress for a box for their pizza.

Kaiba

Kaiba was in love. If Jonouchi didn't own his heart and soul, he would have thrown them at her feet. She was everything he ever dreamed about in a secretary. She spoke in coherent sentences. She knew how to spell Constantinople without a spell checker. She was miraculously dressed in a business suit, with the buttons correctly buttoned. She even did basic math without a calculator. He wondered if he had experienced a terrible accident on the way to work, and even now, was lying in a coma, dreaming.

Jame looked across at Kaiba and wondered how long it would take him to fire her. She'd bet Drover and Tink it would only take a week before he gave her the boot. There were a host of conditions to the bet, like she couldn't actively seek to be fired, she couldn't quit, she had to do her job to the best of her abilities, she couldn't physically attack him, and she couldn't, under any circumstances, tell him her real job. All things considered, however, she should be back to her well earned vacation time in a matter of days with two personal slaves for the entire sun-drenched, margarita swilling time. She pulled out her palm-pilot and made a notation to check airfares.

Kaiba watched her. He knew he was dreaming now. She had a palm-pilot. She knew how to use it. She was actually making a note to herself on it. _Sweet Ra! She might actually be able to use more than a basic word processing program!_ "You're hired."

"Excuse me?" She looked up at him questioningly, "Isn't it standard procedure to at least review a person's resume before hiring them?"

"It's been reviewed."

"How about interviewing the candidate. You haven't asked me a single question besides how to spell Constantinople and how much six plus eight equals." She flipped her palm-pilot closed and placed it back in her pocket.

"The interview is over. You're hired."

"That was brief." She flicked a piece of dust off her blue wool suit.

He handed her the job description Tanaka had provided for him. "These are your duties."

She scanned the list, nodded and looked back up at him, "And just how much will I be paid for this?"

Kaiba bit his lip before he could blurt out she could name her price and took a deep breath. "My last secretary took home about a hundred and fifty thousand a year."

She tipped her head, looking at him, "A hundred and fifty thousand? What did the woman do? Lay golden eggs?"

Kaiba folded his hands in his lap, suppressing the urge to grab her and tie her to the chair. "I'll pay you two hundred thousand."

"Am I supposed to lay golden eggs?" She scanned the job description again more carefully.

Kaiba took another deep breath. _Wait. Wait. Be patient. She hasn't run yet. She probably needs the job._

She nodded to herself, satisfied. "Very well. I accept. I can start Monday."

"You start tomorrow." Kaiba didn't want her out of his sight, not for a moment, definitely not for a couple days. His competitors were sneaky, they might try to grab his new found treasure.

"I'm living in a hotel. I need to find a real place to live." Jame reached down and picked up her briefcase, opened it and neatly filed the job description away.

"I'll have it taken care of, just leave a list of specifications with Tanaka. If you have furniture, he will arrange the moving and unpacking." _Oh dear Ra! She filed something! She actually filed something, IN A BRIEFCASE!!_

Jame looked into the rather intense blue eyes of her new employer and felt a chill run down her spine. _This bet might be just a bit more difficult than I first thought..._

Yugi

Yugi pattered upstairs, turning the lights off in the living room as he passed. Grandpa was already asleep, his soft snores tumbling down the stairs. Yami, he sensed, was drowsily purring to himself about something, probably in his bath again or curled in bed. Bed was where he was planning to go.

The night had been...well, fun, he guessed. He liked being around Yuai. She was a great girlfriend, fun to be around, intelligent, they had a lot in common and could talk for hours. _Then why doesn't it really seem to work for me? Yami keeps saying she's perfect for me. He would know, he's the other half of my soul. So why isn't it working?_ He walked into his room and sat down on the bed. Tonight had been a typical night for them since they agreed to start dating. A movie, pizza or sometimes burgers, a walk home with a kiss by the door. Nothing special. At school Monday, they would meet outside the school, talk, laugh, hang out with their friends, a couple hugs and a few kisses. During lunch, again, talk, laugh, hang out, kiss, hug. Ditto for after school.

He got up and started pulling off his clothes, while digging his pajamas out from under his pillow. _Why isn't this working? Even when I'm sitting right across from her, it's like she's not there. I miss her. I see her every day and I still miss her._ He pulled on his pajamas and tucked himself in bed. _That's really odd. How can you miss someone who's right there?_

Kaiba and Jonouchi

It was starting to get on his nerves. Jonouchi had watched Kaiba sit in the chair by the window with the same eerie smile on his face for the last two hours. It wasn't that his love couldn't brood with the best of them. Kaiba was a champion brooder, probably could win a gold if brooding ever became a Olympic event. It was the smile that sent little shivers down his spine. It just wasn't...Kaiba. It was almost as if a Hamtarro had possessed his love, causing him to smile in that weird, mindlessly happy way. It had to stop. Jonouchi stepped over and put a hand on Kaiba's shoulder, bending down to look into those blue, spaced out, eyes.

"Love? Are you alright?" He gave him a small shake.

The eyes didn't focus, the smile didn't dim, "Sure Jo, I'm fine."

"Seto, you're scarring me here. Did you get attacked by a hamster on the way home?" Jonouchi gently brushed the hair away from Kaiba's face, covertly looking for a head wound to explain this strangeness.

"No. Not that I remember." Kaiba sighed happily, visions of neatly typed letters floating merrily around his head. An organized schedule danced a tango through them, swaying sensuously with a well organized file cabinet.

"Seto, Mokuba told me he was going to shave his head and become a Harri Krishna." Jonouchi couldn't feel any head wounds and felt no signs of fever either.

"Hmmm." Kaiba nodded absently, envisioning being able to actually bring his secretary along to business meetings to take notes for him.

"Love, I'm getting a sex change operation and am going to run off with Rex Raptor and get married." Jonouchi was now past worried. He wondered if someone had drugged Kaiba as his lover just looked dreamily at him. "Look, just stay here, okay? I'm going to call a doctor."

Kaiba caught his hand as he turned, "Jo, a wonderful thing happened today."

Jonouchi kneeled down, peering into his face, worried, "And what was that?"

"I got a new secretary. She can spell, do math, file, type and even...wears a business suit." Kaiba reached out and stroked Jonouchi's hair. "Sweet Ra. She didn't even make a pass at me."

"Really?" Sudden visions of Kaiba coming home on time flitted passed Jonouchi's eyes. An eerie, blissful smile plastered itself across his face as pictures of Kaiba taking a weekend off pranced past after them. "When does she start?"

Review please, or the muse gets it....


	6. A Good Cup of Coffee

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. I get nothing from this except giggles and sore fingers.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

Emergence

Chapter 6: A Good Cup of Coffee

Kaiba- Morning

Kaiba paused in the hallway to peek into his new secretary's office, wondering when his treasure would appear. He had long ago given up trying to tell his secretaries when to come in to work. Originally, he had declared that his secretary had to be in the office at eight sharp. That idealistic notion disappeared after the first twelve had quit and he had to compromise to nine a.m., which had lasted for the next fifteen. The last twenty seven had generally arrived sometime before lunch and disappeared around three. The blond bunny had been one of the few in recent memory that had actually come in during the morning, though she had made up for it by disappeared before lunch.

He had spent most of the night dreamily wondering if she might actually get there before ten. The sheer decadence of actually having a secretary that he could sit down and schedule his day with, was so implausible, that only at three in the morning, when his rational mind was too tired to interrupt, could he even contemplate that wonder.

He was therefore unprepared for the sight that greeted him.

Files lay piled everywhere, on the floor, across the desk, on chairs, even a couple perched on the edge of the potted ficus in the corner. The drawers of the five huge file cabinets in the corner of the office were all opened and empty and a huge trash can sat in the center of the mess, already overflowing with paper. On a table in one corner, that looked suspiciously like the table from the employee break room down the hall, a small stack of unused file folders, a package of labels and a couple of different colored pens sat like a small oasis of calm and order in the center of the chaos. Soft mutters could be heard, though the mutterer was unseen.

"Why the hell is a three year old menu from McDougals in the file for acquisitions? Are we going to declare corporate warfare for Hoppy Meals....huh?....what the hell is this...no, I don't want to know...Oh god, I know what it is...eewww."

Something brown sailed from behind the desk and landed in the trash can with a thump. A slender hand raised to the desk top and snagged a stack of files.

"Why is there a file named Nothing? Why ... uhhhh....oh...well, aren't they well endowed...."

An entire file flew into the center trash can.

Kaiba looked at his watch. Had he accidentally arrived late? No. The watch clearly said it was eight. The sky outside the window clearly indicated it was morning. _Take deep breaths. Yes, breathe. Apparently, no one told you when you woke up this morning that you were being delusional. Time to take a few deep breaths and sit down and quietly call a psychiatrist._

He stepped back into the hall, closing the door behind him and walked over to his own office. The smell of freshly made coffee wafted past his nose, summoning him down the hall. There, where there usually lurked half washed coffee cups, stale cookies and coffee with the consistency of the sludge they dredged out of the bay, was a scene of serene cleanliness. Coffee cups glittered pristinely from a new mug tree, the counters were sparkling clean, the floor gleamed in the light, and the smell of fresh ground and brewed coffee hung like a prayer around him. The coffee maker, usually a nasty brown color and gurgling evilly under a cloud of burnt coffee fumes, sat contentedly and whitely, on the counter, flanked by a small unpetrified bowl of sugar and a small container of cream.

Kaiba poured himself a cup, dumbfounded to see it come out a rich, smooth brown, without any suspicious flakes or floating things. It even smelled like coffee, instead of the toxic waste that occasionally had to be shipped out of Kaiba Corp's R&D department by the environmental hazard specialists. He took a cautious sip, startled by the rich, bitter taste that lightly danced over his taste buds. _Ra! It's real, actual, coffee! _

Jame shoved the last file back into the cabinet. It was amazing how much room there was, once she had disposed of the garbage, panty hose, petrified food, naughty magazines, old romance novels, pamphlets for car washes, junk mail, three bras, a cluster of worm eaten crackers, a can of Coke that had to be a collectors item, a box of tampex, two old bottles of rum, and tons of other bits of junk. She actually had condensed the five file cabinets down to one that was loosely packed. The desk was now arranged for maximum efficiency, the desk top cleared and neat. She had even managed to straighten out the mess that the last secretary had made of the computer and archived all the important files to CD. The only problem was, she had nothing to do. Her boss was holed up in his office and wouldn't even answer the phone.

By now, Drover, Tink and Pease would be stretched out on a beach in Hawaii, drinking sinful things and soaking up sunshine. She wanted to be there but she couldn't get there if Kaiba didn't fire her. She needed a backup plan. Plan one was to merely let nature take it's course. Not, she admitted, the most original plan to ever cross her head, but considering she had the executive secretary skills of a cantaloupe, it was good plan. After all, Kaiba was the head of a multi-national business, it stood to reason that he needed the best of the best. Which, she smiled evilly to herself, neatly excluded her. It was only a matter of time till her tossed her out on her ear to go sip fruity drinks on soft white beaches. Plan two had to be good though, just in case.

She swung mindlessly back and forth in her chair, plotting as Kaiba sat staring mindlessly at his computer screen with only one thought skipping merrily around his head. _I am never letting her go._

Yugi-After School

Yugi dropped his pencil and shook his hand, trying to get the circulation back in his fingers as he looked out the window. It was a bright, breezy day with great white clouds sailing merrily across the deep blue sky. The breeze kicked and played up the street, tugging at ladies' skirts, snatching hats of head and tumbling bits of paper about the sidewalk. A few cars flickered past in bright colorful blurs, their windows sparking briefly in the sun.

He glanced at the clock. He'd been doing math for nearly two hours, trying to get ahead so that he could go to the convention without falling miserably behind. Unfortunately, he was also not going to be able to use his right hand anytime soon..

Giving it another shake, Yugi continued to stare at the clock. Yami had been gone for exactly five hours, twelve minutes and nineteen seconds, twenty, twenty one, twenty two, twenty three. He kept watching as the hands of the clock slowly circled around, mesmerized by each tick that took his love farther away from him.

It worried him that his yami had left to return to the shadows. He hadn't recovered from his last trip. Sure, his dark had told him he was fine. Sure, he had seemed as powerful and confident as usual. And sure, he had smiled and chuckled assuring him that he was going to a much nicer area of the shadows. _But when since have any part of the shadows been nice?_

Tick. Tick. Tick. Each tiny jerk of the second hand of the clock sent half of his soul into darkness. Tick. Tick. Tick. Sixty seconds in a minute. Three thousand six hundred seconds in a hour. Eighty six thousand four hundred seconds in a day. Tick. Tick. Tick. His yami had been gone for over nineteen thousand one hundred and forty seconds.

The sky darkened. The wind scurried off to find a new place to explore. People hurried quickly through the dimming light. Cars flashed headlights as they drove past. Downstairs, Grandpa's footsteps could be heard coming up from the shop. In a moment, the sound of the television started, canned laughter tumbling up to his room. He could hear Grandpa open the refrigerator door, followed by the muted clang of metal pans on the counter top and the hum of the can opener. Still, the second hand swung, pacing out the hour.

Yami had acted more than strange and his eyes...his beautiful eyes, had shadows in them. Shadows that lurked and giggled. Shadows that had blazed into dark fire in the cafeteria. Shadows that still hadn't let Yami go. Even as he had sat, cuddling him, telling him that he would only be gone for a short time, those shadows had laughed at him, telling him that he wouldn't be getting his yami back, they would keep him. The shadows that twined around his love, that lurked in the corners of his soul wanted him back, back into that mindless sleep, back to being the vengeful monster he had been when he had first woken from his long sleep in the puzzle.

Yugi narrowed his eyes, glaring at the clock. _Well, you can't have him. He's mine now. Do you hear? Mine! And you can't have him, you can't hurt him any more! I won't let you..._

But Yami was gone...

He shivered and picked up his pencil again with a final look out the window he once again turned to do his math, not noticing that every computation and every answer consisted of nothing more than ones and zeros.

Jonouchi and Honda

Honda looked out the window at the crowds that flowed below him on the sidewalk. They were mostly kids, some of them from his school, shifting in and out of various shops that lined the street buying clothes, ice cream, gifts, or just plain junk. The lights of the stores glowed feverishly in the press, and even from where he sat he could her the bass thump of music from the stores nearest to him.

"Hey." Jonouchi dropped into the seat across from him, a cup of sugar rich coffee settling onto the table.

"Hey, thanks for coming." Honda tossed him a grin and settled back into the padded arm chair.

The coffee shop was quiet, most of the small tables and soft upholstered furniture was empty. A couple were sitting quietly on a loveseat half hidden by potted plants and a folding screen on the other side of the room. The waitresses were off behind the coffee bar whispering in low tones and fiddling with the stereo system.

Jonouchi stretched out in his armchair, yawning. "Man, I thought class would never end today."

"Yeah," Honda took a sip of coffee, trying to figure out how to start. He'd specifically asked Jo here to talk about Serenity. With Ribbon coming back into his life, his relationship with Serenity seemed about to end. Ribbon was just the kind of girl he needed in his life, sweet, kind, pretty, and intelligent. She didn't play games, she was devoted to her family, and she would be the perfect girl to introduce to his family and eventually marry. If she didn't give him the same gut level sexual thrill that Serenity did, he could live with it.

He had come to the rather nasty realization last night that Serenity was really little more than a past time. With her bed hopping, her sudden disappearances whenever she got bored, her sometimes callous indifference to her own brother, and even, he cringed to admit, her willingness to shed her clothes and fuck him anytime, anyplace made her too cheap, too shallow, to keep as anything more than a piece on the side. He needed something more than that.

"Jo, hey...I wanted to talk to you...well, about...Serenity." Honda nervously took a sip of his own coffee. "You probably have seen that I've been hanging around Ribbon a lot and...I just thought...we should talk."

"What about?" Jonouchi scrunched further back into his chair and crossed his legs, one toe swinging nervously near the table leg.

"Jo, what do you know about what your sister does?" Honda tried to read Jonouchi's mood, trying to figure out how to proceed.

"What do you mean?" Jonouchi looked out the window at the lights.

"Jo, you can't play stupid with me. I know you." Honda took a deep breath. "Do you know about Serenity sleeping around?"

Jonouchi jerked up, "Hey, watch what you're saying about my sister."

"I'm not knocking her, Jo, part of me loves her. I just need to know." Honda leaned forward, trying to catch his friends eyes. "Do you know that she bed hops?."

Jonouchi shifted in his seat, refusing to meet Honda's gaze. "She's too young for that."

"Jo..."

"No. She's too young." Jonouchi turned back to look out the window.

The waitresses finally got the stereo to work and the soft, light notes of Chopin fluttered around the café. The couple on the love seat giggled softly. Honda took a sip of coffee.

"She's too young to start that." Jonouchi closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Jo.."

"No, just listen." Jonouchi turned and looked at him, his brown eyes sad. "Mother did that, still does. It drove Dad nuts. She'd bounce out of the house and come back later smelling like some other guy's cologne." Jonouchi picked up his coffee, his hand shaking and took a sip. "You ever wonder why I don't look that much like Serenity?"

Honda shook his head no.

"My dad, my real dad, was a gaigin. Some guy Mom played with when she was either really ticked at my dad, or just blowin' steam. Serenity is my dad's real kid. Me..." Jonouchi shook his head. "That's why dad started drinking. How would you like it if your wife fucked nearly every guy in town, then left you, taking your kid away and leaving you with some other guy's bastard?"

Honda set his coffee down and leaned back in his chair. "Jo, man...I'm..."

"What? Sorry?" Jonouchi shrugged. "Yeah. So am I. That's why I give my dad slack. He raised me. He took care of me, even if he did a lousy job, at least he gave it a try." Jonouchi looked down into his coffee, "More than I can say about my mom."

"Jo.."

"Nah uh. Let me finish. You gotta hear this." Jonouchi took a deep breath and took a gulp of coffee. "Serenity's too young to do that. She doesn't know what she's doing. If she's acting like Mom, then...she just doesn't know."

"Did you know that she was doing it?" Honda leaned forward, this time catching and holding Jonouchi's eyes.

"No. I kind of guessed what you two were doing, but I didn't know." Jonouchi set his coffee down, "Man, I wish you had told me, maybe..."

"You could stop her? Jo, she's been doing this since I met her." Honda felt his shoulders slump, "You could say I won the Mr. Domino City award. When she and your mom come to town, she shows up at my house looking for a little fun. When she leaves, she finds someone else to play games with."

"Honda, you just gotta be..."

"No, now you listen." Honda caught Jonouchi's wrist as he reached for his drink. "I love her Jo. I really do. But I can't live like that. I've tried."

Jonouchi jerked his hand out of Honda's grasp, and shook his head, "You just have to tell her ta.."

"Stop? I did, just like your dad probably told your mom to stop. And it didn't work. All that happened was Serenity hit me and wouldn't talk to me till I apologized." Honda shifted back in his chair. "I can't believe I did that. I actually apologized for telling her to stop screwing other men."

Jonouchi slumped, "Don't let it bother you. My dad did that too."

"Jo, I'm going to stop seeing Serenity." Honda picked up his cup and finished his coffee. "I love her, but I just can't live like that."

Jonouchi nodded. "I couldn't either. I saw what it did to my dad..."

The waitresses huddled behind the bar again. The couple giggled. Lights from passing cars prowled the streets below them. Silence settled around their table as they both looked out the window at the rush below them.

"Hey." Honda reached forward and lightly slapped Jonouchi's knee. "Still friends?"

Jonouchi smiled, though it wasn't the brightest smile he'd ever accomplished, "You're my best bud. Just...give me a little time before you start dragging Ribbon along with our little posse."

Honda smiled and waved to a waitress, "Not a problem Jo, I'm going to take my time, I have to make sure this is going to work."

"What's up?" Jonouchi nodded to the waitress and tapped his cup, ordering another.

"Mom and Dad are planning to have me married just after graduation, if I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with her, I want to make sure she's not going to drive me nuts." Honda scooted back as the waitress gathered up their mugs and deposited new ones on the table.

"After graduation? That's quick." Jo scooped up his coffee and cradled it close to him, smelling the fresh aroma, letting it calm his nerves.

"Tell me about it. You should have seen the last blushing candidate they brought out." Honda shivered, "She looked like one of those American football players, even had a mustache."

Jonouchi laughed, "Sucks to be you."

"Tell me about it..."

Yuai and Yugi

Yuai looked at the list she held in her hand. Music blared from a nearby cell phone store that had two shockingly clad girls dancing around in front passing out brochures. A group of boys were leaning against one corner smirking and passing things between them and about three hundred people were pouring out of the movie theater or rushing into it. Yuai held on to Yugi's sleeve as they wove through the crowd.

"I think we still need to pick up some extra socks for you and I want to stop and get some Duel Monster hair toys." Yuai yelled into Yugi's ear, hoping he could hear her.

He nodded and pointed across the street, his mouth moving, but she couldn't hear the words.

She nodded back and they struggled through the river of elbows, feet and shoulders till they arrived at the cross walk, where they had to huddle together in order not to be shoved out into the street. The bell dinged and the lights changed and they were caught in the stampede across the street. They managed to swim out when they finally arrived at the shop Yugi pointed to. They quickly darted into the bright light and took a deep breath.

"You've got to admit, shopping is exciting at night." Yugi grinned as he looked around at the heaps of glittering hair accessories.

Yuai nodded, "I can see why Kaiba wanted me to bring a security guard."

Yugi scampered up a set of stairs that had boy's outfits hanging from the railings. "I'm going to get the socks. Is there anything else we need to get here?"

"Just the hair things." Yuai moved to look at the huge table that had piles of neatly arranged pins.

"Great. Be back in a second." Yugi disappeared in a thump of feet on wooden steps.

Yuai drifted around the table, picking out pins with the Dark Magician, a comb that had a sinuous Blue Eyes White Dragon on it and a few pony tail holders that had small clusters of Korribos on the ends. She was absently toying with a head band that had Red Eyes Black Dragons and Blue Eyes Whites coiled around the rim when a familiar voice laughed in her ear.

"Oh get that one. Jo and Kaiba will love you for it."

Small quivers of fear and disgust shimmied down her back as she turned to find herself facing Anzu. The ever present Mai was leaning over a nearby counter looking at jewelry, leaving her girlfriend to wander loose on the public. Anzu had a pleasant smile on her face and was looking at the head bands on the table.

"I..uh.."

Anzu chirped and picked up a band, "Oh look! Harpy Lady and Harpy's Pet Dragon! Oh I have to get it!"

Yuai nodded, feeling a little lost. Okay, since Anzu had gotten out of the hospital, there had been more than one occasion that they had been out together with the group, but when since had they been on independent speaking terms? "Aren't they Mai's favorite cards?"

"Yes. Oh, they even have little ear rings to go with them." Anzu scooped up the jewelry, then looked over at Yuai. "Are you going to the convention?"  
"Yes, with Yugi." Yuai decided to go with the strangeness and started looking around to see if there were any ear rings to go with her head band.

"Oh, I wish I could go." Anzu sighed dropping her things into her shopping basket. "But Mai can't take the time off work."

"Too bad. Kaiba has the same problem so Jonouchi isn't going either." Yuai found the last pair of ear rings that matched the dragons on her head band and dropped them into her own basket.

Anzu frowned worriedly, "It'll be just you and Yugi? Is his grandfather going with you? Honda?"

"No." Yuai spotted a pair of Kurribo ear rings and snatched them up. "It'll just be us."

"Well, I suppose Yami can take care of the two of you if something happens," Anzu's voice was hardly a whisper.

"Yami?" Yuai frowned. "Who's Yami?"

Anzu jerked slightly and shook her head. "Yami?...Oh, he's a duelist, a friend of mine." She looked to where Mai was, noticing her lover was finished. "Oh, got to go. Say hi to Yugi for me."

"Okay and say hi to Mai for me." Yuai sighed and went back to looking at hair combs. _Yami, hmm, strange name. Who would name their kid darkness. Anyhow, Anzu's friends aren't my problem._

Yugi trampled down the stairs a few minutes later, holding not just socks but a new pair of purple leather pants and a matching shirt. A small purple neck buckle swung around his wrist. "I just saw these and had to get them. Do you think I can find matching boots?"

Yuai nodded toward another staircase, this one leading down, "Don't know, but we could look. Shoes are down there."

Yugi dumped the clothes into her basket and nearly ran down the stairs. "Okay, I'm just going to look. I'll be right back."

Yuai hefted the now heavy basket with a grunt and stumbled over to the women's section. She prowled through the racks, passing by sweaters with cute faced kids on them, avoiding a strange ensemble with lace over flowing down it's front and dodged a horrific puce outfit made of plastic. Just as she was breathing a sigh of relief, she turned and bumped into a purple leather outfit that matched Yugi's. It had a corset that would have made Mai coo in pleasure, long tapered skirt with a nearly waist high slash, a pair of delicate boots and a swallow tailed tuxedo jacket. Yuai grinned and dove into the stack of clothes and accessories. It took her just a moment to collect all the pieces she wanted, then scurried quickly over to the cashier to pay for her purchases. By the time Yugi hopped up the stairs, triumphantly holding a pair of boots, she was smiling innocently at him.

"I already paid for my things." She held out his outfit. "We should hurry up and get the rest of the shopping done. Kaiba wants me in by eleven."

Yugi, glowing with happy pride in a purchase well discovered, nodded and walked over to the register. Yuai smiled happily, rocking back and forth on her feet and humming. _Maybe that's the problem. I'm just not getting into being girlfriend-y enough. Maybe I should stop thinking everything to death and just go with it. Kinda fake-it-till-you-make-it._ She smiled as Yugi trudged back, his purchases slung over his shoulder.

Bakura

Bakura looked blearily around the room. He was sprawled in Ryou's soul room, his tenshi curled, warm and sleepy at his side. Clothes were littered across the floor, a pair of shoes were tossed in the corner and the blankets from the bed they were laying on were trailing off the foot of the bed. He buried his face in his light's hair, letting his eyes drift closed. _I'll look for the spell later...Much later..._He pulled Ryou closer and breathed in his scent, letting himself flow back towards sleep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

_Ra damned alarm!_

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Ryou's face pulled into a small frown as he shifted in his yami's arms. Bakura sighed, kissed him, then surfaced, slapping his hand down on the irritating clock. He shoved the covers Ryou had thrown over himself off and stood up, stretching in the night air.

The apartment was still dark, dim street light illuminated the living room as Bakura slipped through it heading to the small alcove that housed the computer. Ekko had been scum, but he'd had excellent taste in apartments. Even his furniture was nice. The landlord had been more than happy not to have to pay to get the stuff hauled off, even giving them a break on rent for taking the apartment with out an official cleaning. Not that they were complaining, after living next door to a woman and her twenty nine unfixed tom cats, not to mention the lingering smell of pickles, Ryou had been more than happy with the arrangements.

Bakura settled on the computer chair and switched on the computer, then stood up to fix a cup of espresso. That had been one of the happier surprises in the cleaning frenzy that Ryou had fallen into for the first week after they had moved in. Back in one of the unused bedrooms, tucked under a mound of slightly moldy futons, an espresso maker had lurked, unopened and unused. He waited patiently till the machine finished spitting the dark, aromatic liquid out and sidled back to the computer.

The pharaoh had already left for the shadows. Marik was tucked happily, if not too sanely in the Ishtar library, probably torturing small bookworms to death. It fell to him to scour the far flung lands of the internet. He settled back into the chair and sipped his espresso. _Well, at least I didn't have to be the one to leave my hikari. Wouldn't like to put Ryou through that. Almost makes me feel sad for Yugi...Almost._


	7. Shadows and Light

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. If you aren't reading Yu-Gi-Oh, go out and buy one. NOW! You really don't know what your missing.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

Emergence

Chapter 7: Shadows and Light

Jame and Kaiba

Jame tossed the ball against the wall, catching it on it's return. It had been two weeks and Kaiba seemed stubbornly determined to keep her as his secretary. Gone were her idealistic notions of lazing on a Hawaiian beach, gone were the happy dreams of pína coladas sipped under palmy shade, gone were all her hopes of sunning herself into a early skin-cancerous grave.

She tossed the ball again, making sure if thunked even louder against the adjoining wall between her and Kaiba's office. Not that it would really do her any good, he'd brought head phones in today and was probably merrily listening to Bach. The man had an irritating ability to deal with most everything she'd thrown at him so far.

She caught the ball and put in back into it's place in her drawer. It was pretty dull being Kaiba's secretary in all honesty. The office was now neat and organized; the schedule was made out till the beginning of next week in detail and till the end of three months in sketch format, there was even some scheduling done for the rest of the year; all the notes for the last business meeting had been neatly inputted into the computer, cross referenced in appropriate places and sent to all concerned parties; her short hand notes from Kaiba's business meeting with one of his competitors yesterday had been transcribed and a copy had been deposited into his in basket; all Kaiba's letters had been printed and sent out to the mail room; everything that could be organized, arranged, typed, answered, filed, filled out, or otherwise done had been done; and now all she had to do was answer the phone and brush off the few brave souls that timorously tried to see her boss.

She rolled her head against the back of the chair and wondered if the fates would be kind, or if she should give in and take a nap. She glared at the clock, 10 am. She slumped in her seat, eyeing her office irritably. She almost gleefully noticed that there was still a stray smudge of dirt on the window that had been there yesterday. She swiveled her chair around to peer more closely at it with a sense of excitement. _Hey! Housekeeping!_

__

Kaiba nodded to himself as the sound of the ball hitting the wall ceased. It meant his little treasure was busy organizing something or other. He purred happily, sipped his excellent coffee and went back to programming. The last few weeks had been heaven. She was a bit on the spirited side and subject to mood swings, but considering she hadn't attacked him with a stapler, like secretary twelve had, he could manage. All he had to do was remember the last fourteen days of arriving home before dark, to the welcome, if surprised, smiles of Mokuba, Jonouchi and even Yuai, to make all his irritation disappear.

The door opened and his treasure appeared with a nearly gleeful smile on her face.

"Hey, you." She'd given up calling him Mr. Kaiba after the first week and in the last few days hadn't even bothered addressing him by anything besides 'you'. He didn't even rate a capital 'You', he could hear it in her voice. "The housekeeping staff is really lax."

Kaiba nodded not bothering to lift his gaze from his computer screen. "Then deal with it."

Jame almost danced back into her office. Kaiba felt a small smile curve his lips. _I wonder if I should sic her on my assistants?_

Yami

Yami held the writhing creature in his grasp, pinning it against the ground, and coolly slid the cutting edge of his knife down it's face. "I asked you a question, answer it."

The creature shrieked, "I don't know. Honest! I don't know! Please!"

Yami smiled pressing down on the blade, letting it sink into the lavender flesh. It wasn't a really interesting creature, sort of humanoid, slender, graceful, with large green eyes and long white hair. Rather pretty if you wanted to look at it artistically. Yami didn't feel artistic at the moment, the annoying thing had been tracking him for the last few days and he was tired of it. "You mean you were just following me around because you had nothing better to do?"

"I was just following my flock! I didn't mean to bother you!" The creature bucked and wailed as Yami traced a path of brilliant blood down his face.

"For some reason, I just don't believe you." The tip of his knife had reached the juncture of the creature's slender elegant neck. Just one sharp move and there'd be one less annoyance in his life. The shadows hissed, wanting blood. He tightened his grip, feeling a pleasurable rush through his veins.

_Yami!_

For a second, he saw his hikari's small hands covering his, stopping him, his sweet voice echoing in his mind. _Yugi?_ There was no answer. He pulled back, off the creature, who quickly pulled itself to it's feet and stumbled, sobbing away from him. _Yugi? My light, are you here too?_

The creature was whimpering, slowly backing away from him, it's soft, green eyes darting frantically around for an escape. Yami looked at it, feeling a bit dazed, disconnected. _Was I really going to kill it?_ Yami shook his head, waving to the creature, "Go. Now."

The creature fled, leaving a few small drops of blood on the rocks.

The shadows snarled, disappointed.

Kaiba and Jonouchi

Kaiba sighed happily as he opened the door. It wasn't even five in the evening and he was home. His last appointment, the head of his acquisitions department, had cancelled at the last minute due to the unexpected acquisition of a burst pipe and a small flood in the acquisitions office. Jame had had the repair crew on site, the clean up crew on the way, the records salvage team hovering in the background and had been chewing out building maintenance before he even walked out his office door to look at the damage. After which, he had opted for heading home.

He set his briefcase down on the entry table and walked toward the living room, ready for a relaxing evening at home.

"Mokuba! I am not telling you again, you cannot build a erupting volcano in the middle of the living room!" Yuai was pacing around the sofa, all five, shy, delicate, petite feet of her looking like a lion about to pounce on a gazelle.

Kaiba ducked back into the hall out of direct sight, curious how things were handled when he wasn't home.

"Big Brother..." Mokuba scampered out of reach, hiding a large bottle of vinegar behind his back.

"Doesn't want to come home to a oozing volcano!" Yuai dived to the side and scooped up the Playstation. "Upstairs and into the bath or the Playstation is history!"

Mokuba wailed,. "Yuai!"

"Now!" Yuai pulled a cord.

Mokuba set his vinegar down and stomped up the stairs, "It's not fair." He turned and waved a imperious finger at her. "I'm telling Big Brother!"

Yuai yanked another cord causing Mokuba to squeal and flee toward the bath. She smiled as the bath door slammed with a resounding thud and reconnected the wires. Jonouchi, who had been standing on the foot of the staircase, watching Mokuba's retreat, grinned and sauntered into the living room.

"Don't worry Jo. I was careful. Your game's still safe." She set the Playstation down and scampered up the stairs after Mokuba.

Jonouchi threw himself into the recliner, calling up to her. "Thanks, I'm up to level nineteen. It'd be a bitch to get back there."

An unintelligible response chirped back down the stairs.

Kaiba grinned and walked into the living room. "Volcanoes?"

Jonouchi fell off the chair, his mouth hanging open.

Kaiba dropped himself into the armchair, letting the upholstery try to absorb him. He bent over and pulled off his shoes, letting them drop to the floor, then leaned back into the chair, relaxing to the far off sounds of Mokuba screaming bloody murder.

Jonouchi sat on the floor staring at him with wide bewildered eyes. "Se'o?"

Kaiba looked over at him, raising one eye brow.

"Whatcha doin' here?"

"Last I checked, I lived here." Kaiba yawned and settled deeper into the chair, still keeping an eye on Jonouchi.

"Is sometin' wrong?" Jo pulled himself back up onto the recliner.

"Not that I noticed. Why?" Kaiba stretched his legs and wiggled his toes, trying to work out the last of the day's tensions.

"Yur home." Jonouchi managed to get his mouth to stop hanging open.

"I noticed that." Kaiba sighed and stretched his arms over his head, then let them fall back over the top of the chair, smiling to himself at Jonouchi's reaction. He could have stayed in the office, finished up on some business, but considering Yuai would be off to the convention soon, he wanted to spend some time with Jo. He could spend most of the weekend that Yuai was away in his office and finishing paperwork, reviewing, researching, reorganizing his briefcase, updating his computer, sharpening pencils, maybe even finally going through all the pens in his desk and tossing out the dead ones. Not that he was going to hide in there. No. He considered it multi-tasking, staying home with his brother, catching up on some work, doing a bit of office upkeep, yes, it wasn't hiding, it was multi-tasking....

Jonouchi sat looking at him in wide eyed wonder for a few more minutes then grinned, bouncing to his feet. "Let's go."

"Hm?" Kaiba grunted as Jonouchi grabbed him and hauled him to his feet.

"Us. Out." Jonouchi pulled him toward the door. "They don't know you're home, an we're out of here."

Kaiba glanced toward the stairs. The faint sounds of Mokuba singing some off key song about everyone being an angel could faintly be heard, then the soft pad of Yuai's feet as she walked around the upstairs, the closing of a door. Kaiba bent and grabbed his shoes and allowed his love to haul him out the door.

Marik and Malik

Malik lolled around on the carpeted steps leading up to the bookshelves, his light gold hair glinting in the sun that streamed through the crystal windows. Marik was using the body, so he was hanging around in spirit. "Yami? How much longer?"

Marik trotted down the steps with a load of books under his arm, pausing to pat his hikari's hair before walking over to the table and dropping the load of books onto it. "I'm a bit busy right now little love." He picked up one heavy, thick dusty volume and settled into a comfortable armchair.

Malik scowled adorably at him. "Yami, can't we go swimming or something?"

"Not in cold weather. Why don't you go see what Shadi is up to, you can haunt him for a bit? You like doing that." Marik opened the book and started skimming the index.

"Yami." Malik whined and pulled himself to his feet and walked over to his dark, perching on the arm of the chair. "We never get to spend any time together."

Marik flipped to a page in the book and started skimming, looking for a bit of information that might lead him in the general direction he wanted to go in. If he remembered, this man had written something about an old text that might have the information he wanted. "We spend plenty of time together. You're just trying to avoid Shadi because he threatened to feed you to Amat if you bothered him anymore." _Which proves the man has a brain._

"I am not. You wouldn't let him feed me to Amat, so why worry?" Malik peeked out her dark's shoulder looking at the book. "You know you're getting as bad as Isis and Shadi with all this studying."

Marik carefully noted what page he was on and closed the book, then looked up into the pouting face of his light. The boy was too cute for his own good. He pulled him down onto his lap and cuddled him, "Little love I have to study, now go away or I'll lock you in your soul room and leave you there for a week, while I redecorate our room, revamp our wardrobe and dye our hair."

Malik's hand went defensively to his hair. "You wouldn't!"

Marik grinned. It wasn't a nice grin, most people would flee from that grin. Many people, who had unluckily chanced upon him during the Battle City Tournament, had learned the hard, your-soul-is-about-to-be-ripped-from-your-screaming-convulsing-body lesson that the grin on Marik's face led to nothing but mind-wrenching, soul-devouring horror. However, his light was used to it by now and only felt a small shiver when it was turned on him. "Scram or become a Kaiba clone."

Malik reconsidered and fled.

Yugi

Yugi sat holding the phone and riffling through his desk, looking for Honda's phone number. It was silly, he knew it. He knew Honda's number. He could dial it in his sleep, had dialed it in his sleep. He could snag that information out of his head in moments of soul devouring terror. He had dialed it in the dark with nothing but the faint glow of the moon to help him see the numbers. Now, sitting at home, wide awake, in his serene well lit room, with no homicidal world-conquering nuts around, he couldn't remember it. "Where is it? Where is it?"

Papers, rulers, toys, pencils, pens, more toys, a rubber stamp kit with the Dark Magician, an old Pokemon card he'd gotten in a magazine, paperclips, an old dictionary, two crumpled post-ies, a stale pack of peanut butter crackers flew out of the drawers as Yugi dug, but no telephone book. Yugi sat back looking at the mess, then attacked his book shelf, knocking the books down to the floor to mingle with the paperclips and other detritus. Nothing. He went to his closet, dropping the phone on the bed and in a moment pants, shirts, shoes, scarves and a tumble of neck belts joined the group on the floor.

Yugi slumped out of the closet surveying the mess, looking a bit surprised. "This is going to take forever to clean." He looked around and sighing then shook his head, wondering how things just seemed to pile up so fast. One minute he had a clean room, the next it looked like Bakura had thrown a rave in it. "Oh well, better get started now before Grandpa sees this."

He went over and flipped on his stereo, selected his favorite CD and waded in to the mess, humming along with the tune. He gathered up his clothes, sorting them, sniffing a few, then re-hung them or tossed a them into a pile for the laundry. He placed his books and texts back on the shelves neatly setting them in alphabetical order, then rearranged them from biggest to smallest. Satisfied, he sat and sorted through his desk items, and stored them back in their drawers, absently playing with an old Rubik's cube, tossing a small Super Bouncy Space Ball around the room till it nearly broke the window and shaking a snow globe and watching the glitter fall around a tiny Dark Magician. He was still humming when he finally dragged the vacuum upstairs and finished by dusting and vacuuming his room. Straightening his bedding he noticed the phone and picked it up. "I wonder why I had the phone in my room" He shrugged and walked back down to the living room, placing the phone back in it's cradle next to the phonebook.

"Yugi?" Solomon called from down in the shop. "Can you come here a moment?"

"Sure Grandpa." Yugi scampered down the stairs, still humming his song.

Solomon was sitting behind the counter with a small stack of boxes at his side. He was poking through one that was sitting on the counter. Small packs of Duel Monster cards were neatly piled around it.

"Yugi, can you put some of these boxes back into the store room? The delivery man dropped them off and I haven't had time to put them away." Solomon motioned to the small huddle of children that were inspecting a rack of stuffed animals. "It's been busy all day."

"No problem Grandpa." Yugi scooped up the boxes and trotted over to the storeroom.

He balanced the boxes against the wall as he pried open the door then went in, not needing the light to navigate through the room. He set the boxes down then turned to go back out into the shop to see if there was anything else that needed to be in here, but he couldn't find the door. Where the door should have been, standing open letting light into the small area, there was nothing, just a wall. _Oh, must have gotten turned around._ Yugi turned, again expecting to see the door, but there was, again, just another wall. Yugi spun looking around, no door, nothing, except the dark, dark shadows that suddenly seemed to hiss around him.

He turned around again, feeling creeping panic slip around him like a wet coat. The door had to be here. The store room just wasn't that big! Yugi put his hand against the wall, trying not to notice how the shadows seemed to pulse around him, how they slithered around the boxes of smiling stuffed animals, how they darted behind old display racks. Trailing his hand against the wall he stepped carefully forward. The door had to be there, and if he just kept his hand on the wall, sooner or later he had to come to it.

The shadows giggled, one flexed around his foot, making him stumble. He quickly straightened and kept walking forward, step, step, step. He came to a corner and turned keeping his hand against the wall, occasionally letting it trail along a storage rack, or the faces of the boxes stored there. He came to another corner still, no door. The shadows writhed snatching at his clothes, tugging at his cuffs. Yugi ignored them and kept walking. He had to reach the door soon. He came to another corner. _Okay, the door has to be on this wall._ Hurrying a bit he kept tracing his hand along, waiting to find the smooth plain of the door face under. He came to another corner.

Yugi whimpered, the shadows snickered, he stepped forward hoping he had just missed it. His foot nudged against a box causing him to stumble again. He came to another corner. _No! Impossible! The door has to be here._ He kept walking, bumping into boxes, listening to the shadows laugh, his hand trailing against the wall bumping into corner after corner. Tears slipped down his face as he finally slumped to the floor, drawing his legs up and hiding behind his knees. _Y-yami, where are you? I'm scared._

The door opened and Solomon stuck his head in, "Yugi, are you going to be in here all day. I have a couple of other things I'd like you to do."

Bakura

Ryou rubbed his yami's shoulders feeling the tense muscles, taunt as wires, under his fingertips. His dark had been sitting at the computer searching through the internet since the night before, dragging himself back to his soul room at dawn to collapse on the bed in a bundle of aches and nerves. Ryou semi-dreaded the state the body had to be in. School was going to be special today. "Have you found anything yet?"

"I found a site that goes into minute detail about how to cast spells during sex. That was interesting." Bakura let his head fall forward, luxuriating in his hikari's touch, snuggling deeper into sheets that smelled of Ryou.

"I meant anything useful." Ryou tapped the top of his yami's head scoldingly, then went back to work trying to relax taunt, unhappy muscles.

"I thought it was useful." Bakura felt his shoulders loosen slightly and sighed. "But no, nothing to get a body."

"Could you program your own search bot?" Ryou, satisfied that he'd at least dealt with one shoulder, moved on to the other one.

"Considered it. Kaiba owes me one though, I'm thinking of letting him do it for me." Bakura looked speculatively over his shoulder at his light. Ryou was frowning slightly in concentration as his fingers coaxed his body to relax, his soft hair still rumpled, one delicate lip caught between his teeth, large dark eyes, silky skin.

"Really? What for?" Ryou felt the shoulder he was working on finally relax and shifted down to work down his yami's spine.

Bakura flipped, pinning a surprised Ryou beneath him. "I'll tell you later. Now about that website I found...."

Someone, Someplace

The man sat on the patio, watching a small flock of birds nimbly walk across the manicured lawn. A small breeze blew in from the bay, ruffling the leaves of the trees and tumbling a few stray flower petals across the steps.

"Is all going as planned?" He leaned back in his chair, enjoying the spring sunshine.

"Yes, all is going very well. Kaiba has no clue that we've already breeched his security." A small folder was placed on the table next to him by his assistant, who hovered timidly nearby. The operative, a rather nondescript man, who was paid well to be nondescript, continued, "We are well on schedule. Shall we proceed with the main phase of the operation?"

"Hmm. Wait just a few more days. There are still a few loose ends to tie up." He waved to his assistant who handed the operative another folder. "I think Mr. Devlin has one more thing to do for us. Send him back to his friends. Make sure he has everything he requires."

The operative bowed, "Of course. Anything else?"

"No, not for now." He turned his thoughts back to the serene scene of his lawn, smiling as a small hummingbird flitted merrily around the tree looking for sweets.

Review people, it only takes a moment, and I do love to hear from you. What do you guys like? What don't you like? A bit of feedback helps.


	8. Lost

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

Emergence

Chapter 8: Lost

Jonouchi and Kaiba

Jonouchi took one last look around the bedroom and saw a picture of him and Kaiba sitting on the desk. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment. They had been taken a couple months ago, when he had dragged Kaiba off to the mountains for a day of skiing. They were posed on the top of a mountain, their skis leaning against their shoulders, dressed in bright ski clothes. Kaiba's hair was wind ruffled and his eyes were startlingly bright in the clear light. They had their arms around each other, a rare smiling carefree moment. Jonouchi ran a finger lightly down Kaiba's image, then resolutely turned and put it in the box with all the other things.

The room looked bare. All personal things were now packed, pictures, small mementos, personal items, games, cards, even his lucky pencil. It looked depressing. Jonouchi slumped tiredly against the dresser and felt depression slide over his shoulders. _Just when you think you have it good, everything changes._

"Is this room clear?" Kaiba poked his head in the door, carrying another box in his arms.

"Yep. But how 'bout the office?" Jonouchi shut the box and picked it up, following Kaiba down the hall.

"I'm going to lock it. I'm having the locks changed this afternoon while Mokuba's in school." Kaiba led the way down to the basement, where they deposited their boxes in the growing stack that they had been building all morning.

"Okay, that just leaves...what? The library?" Jonouchi sighed and dragged himself back up the stairs.

"I suppose I could have that lock changed too." Kaiba trudged up after him then tugged him toward the kitchen.

Jonouchi slumped into a counter chair as Kaiba scoured the refrigerator for a drink. "Isn't there anything we can do to change this?"

"No." Kaiba stood up holding two beers and handed one to Jo.

"But it's not fair! We've been so happy!" Jonouchi pulled the top off his beer and took a gulp.

"No it's not fair," Kaiba sat down opposite Jo and opened his own beer, "But it had to end sooner or later."

Jonouchi shook his head, "I just hoped it wouldn't, ya know."

Kaiba took a drink and nodded, "It's part of her contract. She gets one weekend a month off. We've just been lucky. Yuai's taken only a day here and there and not really taken her days off consecutively."

"Couldn't you..." Jonouchi looked pleadingly at Kaiba.

"No. I tried. We are going to have to stay the entire weekend alone with Mokuba." Kaiba gulped down the rest of his beer and turned to the frig.

Jonouchi suddenly perked up, "Hey! Honda has a race. I could..."

"Leave and I will hunt you down and drag you back by your balls." Kaiba took out more beer.

Jonouchi slumped. "Kaiba? How did we manage this before?"

Kaiba pulled the top off another bottle. "We didn't realize that there was another way to live. We managed."

Honda and Ribbon

Honda smiled happily as Ribbon wound her arm through his and pulled him toward a sidewalk vendor selling waffles covered in butter and syrup. It was their first date and so far he had to crush down the urge to drag her home to his parents and introduce her as his future wife. She was lovely, gentle, kind, beautiful, sweet, graceful, smart, playful, shy, caring, ...he lost himself for a few moments trying to catalog all her excellent qualities, there were a lot, it took some time. He blissfully smiled and handed the waffle lady some money in exchanged for buttery, syrupy waffles.

"Honda, would you like to take a walk through the park?" Ribbon tipped her head back to look up at him with her exquisite, glorious, perfect, lovely eyes.

"Sure, if that's what you want." Honda couldn't make himself stop smiling as he admired her silky, bright, beautiful, lovely hair.

Ribbon hugged his arm and they headed toward the park. "It's so peaceful in the park. After spending so much time in school, it's nice to come here and just relax."

"Yeah. It is nice here." Honda wrenched his eyes off his date and glanced briefly around the park, absently noting grass, trees, a few statues and a winding path, before letting himself return to gazing at the vision of lovely, perfect, delightful...

"I come here everyday after school." Ribbon tugged him gently toward a large pool with a statue of lady pouring water out of a large jar into the deep water below. Koi soared under the surface, gliding through lily pads and occasionally causing ripples. Beneath a willow at the edge of the pond was a stone bench that Ribbon led him to. "This is my favorite spot. I like to come here and read."

"It's lovely." Honda sat down next to her on the bench.

"What do you do after school?" Ribbon graced him with one of the loveliest, gentlest, purest smile he had ever seen.

"Oh, I race motorbikes with my dad." Honda blushed, somehow feeling he should have been spending his time someplace lovely, reading and maybe writing poetry. He made a quick note to himself to find a nice spot, find a suitably profound book and learn how to write poetry.

"Oh! That's wonderful! My father used to race motorbikes." Ribbon's delightful, adorable, angelic eyes widened worshipfully. "Some of my fondest memories are sitting in the stands and cheering for my father."

"Really?" Honda gave up his quest for a beautiful spot, the search for a great novel and his poetic aspirations instantly. "Does he still race?"

"Oh, no. He fell off a ladder when I was about ten and really hurt his knee. He had to give up racing." She looked sad for a second, then perked back up. "But we still go to races when he has time."

"That's too bad." Honda's brain suddenly came up with an idea. He blinked at it for a second as it shoved it's way past his preoccupation with worshiping Ribbon, then before he really had too much chance to think it over, spat it out. "I'm racing in this weekend's big race and I have free seats in the stands, would you and your dad like to came?"

Ribbon frowned at him and his heart sank. _Too much, too soon. Idiot_. He cringed, waiting for his happy day to come to a crashing halt. _As soon as I get home, I am ripping my tongue out._

"I don't know. I'll have to ask my father, he sometimes works during the weekends." She leaned forward, her bright, radiant, magnificent smile returning, "But I'll come."

"You will?" Honda felt like floating up to the clouds singing like a bird. "That's wonderful!"

Yami

The shadow realm had to be the most depressing thing in all creation. Yami came to this conclusion after trudging through it for days. He wasn't even sure how many days it had been anymore. They all blurred together in a endless stream of gloom, watching one foot land in front of the other, only stopping for a few moments to look around the gray, monotonous landscape before returning back to the endless plodding.

This was a complete waste of time. How could the secret of anything be here? There was nothing here to be secret. Just mist, shepherds with purple sheep, dull grass and dim light. He would have had more luck staying home and looking for how to acquire a body by reading tea leaves. Yes, home with Yugi, cuddled in his light's arms. Not trudging through damp, cold, lifeless landscape, searching fruitlessly for something that probably didn't exist.

He stumbled over a dead log and kept trudging, his feet squelching down into damp soggy weeds. He was slowly coming to the realization that the whole idea of getting his own body was a hopeless dream. Only a complete moron, like himself, would even consider the idiotic notion that a incorporeal spirit could ever have a body. His brain must have been damaged from all the time he had spent in the puzzle. But, then again, he hadn't been the most brilliant pharaoh in history either. He had sent his childhood friend to a needless and pointless death, his kingdom had been torn apart by shadow wars, and his best friend had tried to kill him and take his throne. If that didn't clue him in to how very, very stupid he was, then what would? A huge sign floating in the sky proclaiming his complete ineptitude? His ancestors were probably cringing in shame. He probably never got to the afterlife because all his forefathers had probably flung themselves down in mass and begged all the gods to not inflict his dim-witted presence on them.

Yami drooped, shoulders slumping, head hanging, even his hair fell limply forward as he continued to slog through the shadow realm. He should just turn back, go home. But would Yugi even want him there? Right now his light was probably dancing for joy about having him out of his life even for a little while. Yugi was too kind, too gentle to ever tell him to his face that all he was was a burden. A parasite. His beautiful light was probably ecstatic right now, being free of his brainless posturing, his useless talent at playing a silly card game, his unwanted sexual advances. What ever made him think that someone as beautiful as his light would want him? Yugi could have anyone, man or woman. All he had to do was smile and people loved him. Why would he want a pharaohnic failure? A royal reject. Better to just drop to the ground and lay there for the rest of eternity and let his light be happy.

He slogged on, never noticing the shadows dancing gaily in his wake.

Jonouchi and Kaiba

Kaiba locked the last door and leaned against it with a sigh. "Okay, everything is clear."

Jonouchi wrapped his arm around Kaiba's slender waist and leaned against his shoulder. "It's only a weekend, right? She will come back."

A large crash echoed up the stairwell, followed by a unholy scream that would have surprised Yugi if he ever heard it. "Mokuba, I told you. No electric scooters in the house! What makes you think that wood parquet is the place to practice 180s?"

There was the whine of a small electric engine, another crash, something that sounded like a growl of an enraged grizzly bear, then a high pitched shriek. "Yuuuuuaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

"You'll get it back sometime right after your grandkids retire."

"I'm telling Big Brother!"

There was another crash.

"Mokuba! That's it. The DVD is gone, too. If you keep this up I'm taking the computer next."

"I'll just get it back tomorrow."

"Not if I lock it away in my room you won't."

"That's not fair!"

"Deal with the unfairness. Now stop with the property damage and get a broom. You're cleaning this entire room."

"I won't. That's what staff is for."

"That's what is saving you from a long weekend watching the Family Channel. Move!"

Jonouchi shivered as Kaiba put his arm around him and pulled him closer. They stood in the hall watching the stairs, half expecting to see a mop of unruly black hair to appear at any moment. There was more grumbling, a couple snarls, a tiny thump and then silence. They both sighed in relief.

"Is it my imagination or is Mokuba getting wilder?" Jonouchi looked up into his lover's eyes.

"He's definitely gotten worse. Probably just acting out over the shooting." A sudden excited gleam glowed in Kaiba's eyes. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner." He grinned broadly, if not too nicely at Jonouchi, "My poor brother. He needs to deal with the trauma of nearly being shot to death. What better way to deal with it, than to join a trauma therapy retreat?" He let go of Jonouchi and strode quickly over to his office, "The sooner he deals with this the better! My brother shouldn't suffer a moment longer! I'll go make arrangements."

Jonouchi stood still as hope seeped into his soul, then grinned and jumped into the air, yelling, "Yes! Halleluiah, free at last, free at last!"

Yugi and Yuai

Yuai looked down at her cards that were laid in front of her on the table and then looked doubtfully over at Yugi. He was sitting across the table from her sipping at his milkshake and watching the cars zip past. Twilight was casting it's soft glow across the city and a few of the passing cars were putting their headlights on against the gathering dark. Every once in awhile a car would pull to the curb in front of them and people would get out and come into Burger Bonanza.

They had come here to finalize plans for leaving tomorrow. Thankfully, Kaiba had taken charge of Mokuba, pulling him upstairs and into his office for a brotherly chat. From the ecstatic grin on Jonouchi's face, she could be that the chat would probably end with Mokuba out of the house for the weekend. So, when she had found herself unexpectedly free for the evening, she had called Yugi and found herself playing Duel Monsters with the world champion. Which made this whole evening confusing.

There was no way that he couldn't see Doma, the Angel of Silence sitting in attack position on her side of the table. Nor could he easily miss her Mystical Elf sitting in defense position along with her very vulnerable Fire Princess. So, why was he putting his Summoned Skull in defense position? She contemplated a trap, but there were no trap cards down on the board. She mulled over the idea of a magic card, but again, no cards down on the board. She pondered a special magic or trap card that could be pulled straight from your hand, she wasn't entirely sure, but she didn't think there was one. But why sacrifice the Summoned Skull? His only other card out was Kurribo, who was in attack position. Confusing.

"Okay, I take Fire Princess out of defense position and she attacks and destroys Summoned Skull. Doma, attacks Kurribo, taking him out with the rest of your life points." Yuai felt more bewildered than victorious.

Yugi smiled. "Hey! That was a great move."

Yuai looked at him doubtfully, but kept her mouth shut. That had been a mediocre move at best. Almost, a routine move. A putting your enemy out of his misery move. A move that she would have been stupid not to have made. Kaiba would have washed his hands of her and teaching her Duel Monsters if she had missed that move. Jonouchi could have made that move. Anzu, from what little she had seen in before school duels, could have made that move. Honda, who barely knew the mechanics of the game could have made that move. A great move? Hardly. _Maybe I'm not being girlfriend-y enough? Would a girlfriend have taken that move? Should I have let him win? Maybe that's it. He's letting me win. Odd though. He's never let me win any other game we've ever played._

"Hey. You want to play again?" Yugi snarfed down a few fries and collected his cards, careful not to get ketchup or grease on them.

"Uuuhhh. No, not tonight." Yuai smiled, then reminded herself to be girlfriend-y, "We can play all weekend, right?"

"Sure!" Yugi nearly bounced in place. "I can't wait to go!"

_Girlfriend-y, girlfriend-y._ "I can't wait either. It'll be the first time we...well, be on our own." Yuai tried to sound shy and excited. _Remember, girlfriend-y!_

Yugi blinked cluelessly at her, "Uh, Yuai. We're alone a lot. What's so different about being at the convention?"

Yuai looked down at her cards, then back up to her boyfriend. _Maybe a little less girlfriend-y._ She was sure Jonouchi had said Yugi had experience being in a relationship. Positive in fact. He had to figure it out, being alone, away from his grandfather and friends, just the two of them, alone, staying in the same hotel, alone. It wasn't a hard equation. Then again, maybe Yugi wasn't interested. She really wasn't. But considering how many people had used her body, letting Yugi play with her wasn't a biggie. However, if Yugi didn't want too... "I just meant no school work, no Kaiba, no grandpa. It'll just be us."

"Oh, yeah. That will be neat." Yugi shoved the last of his burger in his mouth. "Hey, I can actually stay up and watch the whole Weekend of Wildness on the anime channel." He smiled, a little ketchup on his chin.

Yuai smiled back, somehow feeling relieved. "Great!"

Domino City-midnight

The boy shuffled down the street hunching his shoulders against the cool breeze that had sprung up a few hours after sundown. His ragged jacket hung from the slender bones of his shoulders, wrapping nearly double around his gaunt form. His long dark hair hung in mats around his bruised face as he shivered. It was so cold, so dark and he was so tired. He retreated to a ally, hoping to find a warmer place, out of the wind.

"Hey, man, ya got a light?" A shadow loomed behind him.

He jumped back, looking nervously around and shaking his head.

The shadow stepped closer, a taller kid, expensive jacket, long hair and a cocky attitude. "Too bad." The kid grinned and a couple more shadows stepped forward, "But, hey, I'm sure you got something we'd want."

Review! The muse whimpers when she's lonely and it keeps me up....


	9. Missing Something

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

(Author's note: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just try and flee innocent characters! I have you where I want you! BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay, I'm done now. On with the story.)

Emergence

Chapter 9: Missing Something

Yugi

The sun glittered softly through the window, casting fingers of light across the room to gently waken a small lump that sprawled across the bed. The lump twitched as the light nudged it. The lump shifted, hunching and flexing. A soft mutter came from the lump, a hand appeared waving around and finally knocking an innocent alarm clock off the bedside table. The lump contracted and stilled. The light upped the anti sending more light into the room. The lump expanded then pulled itself into a small ball of misery and a small vibrantly colored head emerged.

Yugi sat up yawning and blinking around his room. He smiled as he noted the alarm clock sitting on the floor and bounced lightly out of bed, scooping it up and replacing it on the table. He scrambled over to his closet, tripping over his suitcase. He shoved it aside, wondering why he'd left it there, as he dove in and started sorting through his clothes. In a few moments, he emerged dressed in a old pair of jeans and a red and black tank top. He inspected himself in the mirror, okaying his look as acceptable for spending the day cleaning the shop and working in the stock room.

"Yugi? Are you awake?" Solomon's voice called up the stairs.

"I'm up grandpa. I'll be right down." Yugi called back and snatched his hair brush and scampered out of his room and down the stairs trying to get his hair into some kind of order.

Solomon was standing in the kitchen, making breakfast and talking to a girl who was sitting at the breakfast table drinking a cup of tea. Yugi wondered who she was, she didn't look familiar. She was small, with shoulder length, blond hair, large round hazel eyes and a soft, whispery voice. _Must be a friend of grandpa's, maybe she's related to Arthur._ He smiled at her as he walked into the kitchen. "Hi!"

The girl smiled up at him, "Hi, Yugi. Are you ready?"

Yugi dropped into his chair, "Huh? Ready?"

Solomon set a bowl of steaming hot rice cereal down in front of him and grinned at the girl, "He was up late last night packing."

"Packing?" Yugi felt confused. "Why am I..."

Solomon frowned, "Yugi, where is your puzzle?"

"Puzzle?" Yugi paused in the middle of spooning heaps of sugar onto his cereal.

"Are you even awake Yugi?" The girl asked leaning over and peering at him curiously. A slight grin peeked around the corners of her mouth.

"Yeah. I'm awake." Yugi actually wondered if he was. The morning had started okay, but breakfast was just getting stranger and stranger. _Maybe it's one of those dreams where you think your awake, but then your not, then you wake up and think your awake, and then your not and it just goes on and on._

Solomon laughed and ruffled his hair, "Why don't you go get your suitcase and puzzle while your cereal cools. That way you'll be ready to go once your finished."

Yugi stood up, feeling lost, but went back up stairs. His suitcase was still sitting , waiting for him, but what did grandpa mean, his puzzle. Did the girl want to put together a puzzle? What puzzle? He poked into his closet looking for a puzzle. There was a puzzle of a kitten sitting on the shelf. Or maybe the puzzle of Tokyo Tower? He shuffled through his games. What puzzle? He stepped out into his room and looked at his shelves. Nope, no puzzles. He looked around his room, nope, no puzzles.

His eyes landed on a golden triangular thing that sat on his desk. He picked it up and noticed there was a chain around it, as if it was a really big necklace or something. He looked at it closely, noting the seams and cracks running around it. Could this be the puzzle? Maybe some kind of new three dimensional puzzle? He slipped the chain over his neck and grabbed his suitcase and the puzzle boxes, then headed down the stairs.

The girl was still at the table, now eating a piece of toast. His grandpa was now sitting with her talking about the shop and sipping tea. Yugi stopped, feeling as if he was missing something. _What's going on? Am I still asleep? I must be, strange dream though. _He dropped his suitcase and stepped into the kitchen.

Solomon smiled at him and motioned to the cereal, "Eat up Yugi."

"Kaiba's letting us borrow a car and driver to take us up to the convention, so we don't have to go on the bus." The girl smiled.

"He is?" Yugi gulped down a mouthful of cereal, absently wondering what the symbolic meaning of cereal was in this dream. Maybe knowledge, food, was he hungry and should have eaten a snack before he went to bed? "Why is he doing that?"

The girl laughed, "It's a bribe. He wants me to find some cards for him."

"Cards?" Yugi contemplated the meaning of cards. Games? Something hidden? Chance.

"Yeah." She took a bite of toast. "I'm supposed to scoop up all the Exodia cards that I find."

"Oh, okay." Yugi gobbled the rest of his cereal. _What is a Exodia card?_

"Ready Yugi?" Solomon stood up and started clearing the table.

The girl stood up and took her tea cup and plate to the sink. "I'll do the dishes Grandpa, while you say your goodbyes." She took the dishes from Solomon with a smile and started rinsing them off in the sink and placing them in the dishwasher.

"Yugi, now take care while your there." Solomon turned to him and gave him a hug. "Call me this evening and tell me how things are going."

"Uh, sure Grandpa." Yugi smiled back, "Do you want me to pick up some cards too."

"No, no my boy." Solomon laughed, "You just go and have fun."

"Sure grandpa." Yugi turned to his suitcase, half expecting it to have morphed into something else. He was almost surprised to see it still sitting where he had left it. _This is really a realistic dream. I wonder if I could concentrate and make it turn into something else. Maybe a giant cupcake._ He concentrated for a moment, but disappointingly, the suitcase stayed a suitcase.

A strange man in a uniform walked into the room and smiled at the girl. "Are we ready Miss Yuai?"

The girl, Miss Yuai, nodded, wiping her hands on the kitchen towel. "Yep. Why don't you take Yugi's things down."

The man nodded hello to Yugi and Solomon and picked up Yugi's suitcase, which was still stubbornly not turning into a cupcake. Yugi sighed, and watched the man walk out the door.

"Bye, Grandpa." Miss Yuai came over and gave his grandpa a small kiss on his cheek. "Kaiba promised to send the driver to pick us up Sunday evening, so you don't have to worry about us being on the bus."

"That's nice to know." Solomon hugged her gently and gave Yugi one last hug. "You two behave yourselves now." He wagged a warning finger at his grandson. "Don't you do anything fresh, young man."

Yugi blushed, "Grandpa."

Miss Yuai blushed. "Grandpa, stop that."

Solomon patted them both on the head, "Okay, okay. Just behave yourselves."

Yugi and Miss Yuai stepped away and started down the steps. Yugi wondered where they were going and why his classmate Kaiba would let them use one of his cars. It wasn't like he knew the guy, and just who was this Miss Yuai? Yugi pondered the meaning of the strange dream he was having as he walked out of the store and toward the long dark limo that was waiting at the curb.

Anzu and Mai

Anzu sat in the stands. It was a good seat. Honda, as a participating racer, had been given free seats for his friends and family and had given them to her, Mai and his new girlfriend Ribbon. They were pretty good seats, not the best, but pretty good. They were slightly to the right of the starting line and far enough up the stands to be under the shade. Mai grumbled a little, preferring to be closer to the track.

Anzu settled deeper into the seat, watching Mai, who was standing near the rail talking to a man in a rather bright, multi-colored uniform. He was leaning very close, eyeing her lover hungrily. Mai flirted back, using her gorgeous eyes, lush gold hair and impressive cleavage to dazzle the guy, who seemed more than willing to be dazzled. Anzu enjoyed watching Mai work. Flirting was an art form to Mai and she was a master.

When she had still hung around with Nina, she had honestly thought they were the hottest thing around. No one could compare to them, they were the zenith of cool, sexy and the complete definition of hot. Of course, she now realized, she was also certifiably insane at the time, but she hadn't known that. Back then, in what she was now considering the dark ages of her life, Mai looked too obvious, harsh, cheap, and false. What guy could want someone so...so...Barbie doll plastic?

She wanted to laugh at herself now. Mai was an artist. She made what Nina and she tried, look childishly silly. Yes, the men drooled, they eyed Mai's tempting body, they fantasized about what Mai's pouting lips could do to them, how her hair would feel if they wrapped it around their hands, how her breasts would feel against their palms. Mai would smile into their eyes and wordlessly promise all sorts of things. Things that never would come to pass. Her looks were a tool to get what she wanted, but that's all they were. Once she achieved her goal, she walked away. Mai didn't have to prove how cool she was, how sexy she could be, or how foolish everyone else was. She was complete and confident in herself, and that was the difference between her and what Nina and she had been. They had been trying to prove something. Mai didn't have to prove anything, to anyone.

Anzu closed her eyes and relaxed into the seat, propping her feet up on the back of the seat in front of her. It was a nice day, warm with a hint of a breeze coming in off the bay. Mai was nearby and Honda was, if not exactly close, at least near enough if something happened she could find him easily enough. There weren't a lot of people at the race today either. She never really liked it when there was a large crowd. There were mainly just the die-hard fans littering the stadium and the track personnel. Everything was good, everything was safe. She let herself drift, till a sudden thump in the seat next to her notified her that Mai had returned.

She looked up and noticed that Ribbon had accompanied Mai and was now settling next to her sipping a soda.

"Hi, Ribbon." Anzu leaned forward and smiled at Honda's new girlfriend.

"Hi, Anzu." Ribbon smiled back, putting her cup into the built in cup holder on the seat's arm.

"They're already on the track and they should be starting..." A sudden loud noise and the increased rumble of the engines sounded before Mai finished.

Anzu pulled her feet off the seat and leaned forward, "Which one is Honda?"

Ribbon pointed, "There, number 23."

Mai leaned back in her seat, "Wait a second till they all get sorted out, then you'll spot him."

The racers zipped along the track in a colorful blur, which Anzu couldn't decipher. "What colors was he wearing again?"

"Red with white and black stripes." Ribbon leaned forward, "There he is in sixth. See him?"

"Yep, there's our boy." Mai sighed happily, her eyes tracking every move Honda made. "He's not bad, would have liked a better placement, but not bad."

Anzu carefully counted back six from the guy in the front and finally spotted the brightly colored blur that was Honda. "He's doing great, look he's now in fifth."

"Yeah, but that guy next to him, in the green and white, he's a complete ass." Mai shook her head. "Honda should have stayed as far from him as possible. He likes to make trouble."

Anzu, keeping an eye on her friend frowned worriedly, "What do you mean?"

"His name's Hochi and he likes to play mean." Mai tossed her hair over her shoulder, waving an accusing finger at the green blur, "I know him. He's washed up, so he wants to take everyone down with him, especially anyone new and shows even a trace of promise."

Anzu watched as her friend maneuvered across the track, trying to put distance between himself and Hochi. The green blur went after him, tracking his every move. "Can't they do something?"

"Nope. Hochi pushes it, but he covers himself well." Mai bit her lip as Honda dove into third place, with Hochi hanging close to his side in fourth. "Looks like Honda's got a friend."

The racers flashed past in a loud roar of engines and color, then they were past and circling the track again. Honda was staying tucked in third. Hochi was still at his side in fourth, not even trying to get ahead. The rest of the racers were falling back slowly.

Anzu looked at Mai and saw the worried look on her face. Ribbon was sitting tensely at the other side.

"He can't do anything, right?" Anzu watched as the racers flashed into the far turn.

"Depends on whether he thinks he can get away with it or not." Mai's eyebrows were drawn together. "It's a small race, at a small track."

Anzu looked back, just as the racers flew by again. Honda was creeping up into second. Hochi still flanked him. Ribbon looked like she was holding her breath, leaning forward with her hands on the seatback in front of her.

"Shit." Mai breathed, "He's doing too well. Hochi's sure to go for him. If nothing else then Hochi will get second with one less new rider to deal with later."

The racers shot into the far turn. Ribbon gasped. Mai jumped to her feet. Anzu watched in dread as Honda's bike suddenly jerked hard to the left, then spun to the right, exploding across the pavement like shattered glass, sending a red, white and black figure tumbling across the track like a broken doll flung by an angry child.

"No! Honda!" Ribbon shot to her feet.

"Damn. They had to see that!" Mai was already pushing past Ribbon and running down the steps.

Anzu and Ribbon raced after her, ignoring the announcements and the sudden press of excited people. All they wanted was to get to their friend.

Kaiba and Jonouchi

The airport was a lovely place to be. Jonouchi smiled beatifically around him as he strolled past the small quiet bars, the colorful boutiques that sold last minute necessities to harried travelers, and various gaily colored restraints. Kaiba and Mokuba were walking in front of him, heading toward the gate that would take Mokuba away and hopefully deposit him back as a much saner, easier to get along with kid.

"This isn't fair! You're just doing this so you can spend the weekend alone." Mokuba growled, stomping angrily at his brother's side.

"Mokuba, ever since the shooting, you've been acting out. I've noticed. Your behavior isn't just mischievous any more, it's getting down right vicious." Kaiba kept walking, they'd been having this argument for the last twelve hours. "You need to deal with your problems."

"The only problem I have is being sent to Sri Lanka." Mokuba snapped back.

"Your flight boards in ten minutes, do you want anything?" Kaiba glanced over at his seething brother.

"I want to stay home." Mokuba stopped, "I'm not going."

Kaiba grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall toward the gate. "You're going."

"You can't make me." Mokuba tried to dig his feet into the carpet.

"Watch me." Kaiba easily pulled him along, not even breaking his pace. "It's for your own good, little brother."

Jonouchi still smiled blissfully as he watched the show. In less then one hour, he and Kaiba would be heading back to the mansion for an entire weekend of uninterrupted fun.

Yuai and Yugi

Yuai looked out the window at the passing trees. It was a beautiful drive. They were winding through some of the wildest mountains and most unspoiled forests in Japan. Thick, dark trees covered the steep slopes of the mountains, deep rivers wound through narrow canyons, soft wisps of clouds seemed caught in the high peaks like cotton caught in a comb of trees and the air coming through the windows was clean, crisp and scented of rich pine and that unidentifiable woodsy smell that sent little tingles of happy excitement up her spine.

She couldn't wait till they got to the hotel where the convention was. It was supposed to be one of the most picturesque hotels in Japan, set deep in the mountains on the side of a cliff looking out over seemingly endless valleys of untouched forests.

Kaiba had recommended eating at a nearby café when they arrived that was just a short walk down the road from the hotel. He'd stayed there last year during a business conference and had said the only things that had made the whole thing bearable were the accommodations and the food at the café. Apparently the conference had not been one of those bearable things. After living in the same house as Kaiba, she had to wonder what creative way Kaiba had expressed his dissatisfaction about the conference. She wouldn't be terribly surprised if there was a large crater someplace on the hotel grounds, a mute testament of why you don't get a Kaiba annoyed.

Yugi was missing it all though. About five minutes into their trip he'd conked out and had been happily snoring, sprawled across the seat. Yuai thought he looked cute. He had a little smile on his face and every once in awhile he would giggle in his sleep and snuggle deeper into the leather seat. She wondered what he was dreaming about. He looked so adorable. In a weird kind of way, he'd been cute at breakfast, too. He'd looked so lost and she hadn't missed the fact that he'd actually brought down a kitten puzzle from his room. She gently touched his hair, laughing silently to herself. He'd looked like a baby owl, when he first walked in, blinking sleepily with wide, wide eyes, as if he couldn't figure out who she was and why she was there.

The road swung in a turn around the edge of a mountain and a bright vista opened up in front of them. The sun was glinting across a silver ribbon of water down below, with green, moss covered stones clustering along the edge under a canopy of leaves that glistened in the sun. She looked down at Yugi and back at the enticing scene, wondering if she should wake him up to see or if she should let him sleep. She finally settled on shaking him gently.

"Hey, Yugi? Do you want to wake up?" She gave him another nudge and watched his soft violet eyes open. "It's really pretty to see."

He smiled up at her, "Oh, Yuai." He yawned. "I just had the strangest dream..." He blinked around at the interior of the limo for a second then shrugged. "I think I was sleep walking or something."

She smiled and snuggled closer to him. "You were kind of out of it this morning."

Yugi looked down at the ratty clothes he was wearing. They were the ones he wore when he was going to be cleaning, not something he would have chosen to take to the convention. "Yeah, I guess I was." He snuggled closer to Yuai and looked out the window. Then frowned, feeling something digging into his chest, making Yuai wiggle away slightly to get comfortable against him. It was a large upside down gold pyramid suspended from his neck by a plain, ugly, iron chain. It looked gaudy and it was uncomfortable as hell. _Why am I wearing this big clunky necklace?_

He pulled it off and looked at it. "Why did I bring this?"

Yuai looked up at him curiously. "I don't know. You weren't wearing it this morning and Grandpa sent you back upstairs to get it."

Yugi set it down on the seat across from them, "I wonder why."

Yuai looked back out the window, "Look, magpies!"

Yugi looked and snuggled closer, breathing in the sweet smell of Yuai's hair. "Magpies are supposed to bring good luck."

Yuai sighed, and smiled up at him, kissing his jaw. "I get more good luck? I didn't think that was possible."

Yugi gave her a kiss and they both settled back and watched the mountains unfold all their mysteries as they journeyed farther into the wild.

Honda

"This won't hurt a bit." The doctor smiled than quickly snapped Honda's broken arm back into place.

Honda shrieked, then panted for a second, "Liar, that hurt like hell."

The doctor just nodded and inspected his handiwork. The arm was once again straight, and as he ran his fingers up the line of the bones, he could only feel the smooth natural curve that nature intended the human forearm to possess. He set his patient's arm down and did a careful inventory of injuries and treatments: one broken arm, set, still needs to be put in a cast; contusions, abrasions and lacerations; cleaned and bandaged, will need further treatment when patient returned to his office in a few days; one large laceration on left leg; stitched and bandaged; concussion, minor, thank God for helmets or this kid's brains would have been part of the pavement; still need to give the kid a lot of pain meds and some antibiotics. He motioned for the nurse to start putting the arm into a cast. "You were a lucky young man."

Honda nodded at him. The shots they had given him when he'd come in were making things a bit foggy, but other than that he felt okay, a bit loopy, but okay. "Can my dad come in"

"Sure. I think he's right out side. The doctor stepped out the infirmary door and Honda could hear the soft mutter of voices.

Mai, Anzu and Ribbon marched in, his dad poked his head in for a second and waved, then went back to talking to the doctor.

"Nice tumble. Did you practice?" Mai propped her hip against the bed he was sitting on.

"Nope, completely natural talent there." Honda shrugged, then quickly decided not to do that again in the near future.

Ribbon stepped close to the bed and gently touched his arm. "The doctor said you broke it."

"Yep, right about there." Honda cheerfully pointed to a spot close to his wrist. Ribbon didn't look impressed.

Anzu glared at him, "I told you to be careful!" She waved a threatening finger under his nose. "I warned you to take care of yourself out there. Now it's time for you to suffer!"

Honda leaned away from her and her dangerous digit. "What do you mean?"

Mai straightened and grabbed Ribbon, pulling her away, "Time for us to go." She waved cheerfully back as she yanked the startled blond out of the room. "Good luck! We'll be waiting outside till it's over"

"What do you mean good luck?" Honda looked around a bit wildly, trying to figure out what was going on. "Till what's over?"

Anzu narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, "It's time for...the speech!"

Suddenly, Honda realized what was about to happen. As his eyes got bigger, as his pupils dilated in dread, he silently thanked Mai for getting Ribbon out of there while there was still time.

"We are friends and as friends we need to stick together. Yes, through thick or thin, when times get rough, that is when our friendship should shine the brightest....." Anzu's eyes bore into his withering soul and the world turned dark. It was the friendship speech from hell, his reward for having that asshole Hochi send him spinning across the track like a crazed top and scaring his friends half to death. "No matter how terrible the problem, we will face it together as true friends, should. We will stand side by side, bound eternally by our true feelings....."

Kaiba

The house was abnormally quiet. No Mokuba, racing through the halls yelling. No Playstation binging, bonging and playing silly music. No soft spoken Yuai slipping through the house on quiet cat feet. No slamming of doors. No sudden howls of protest. No explosions, crashes, or scent of burning anything. Just quiet. Peaceful, blissful, sweet quiet.

Kaiba stood in the middle of the living room and took a deep breath. How long had it been since he could say there had been a moment of true quiet in the house? There had been a couple of hours of quiet last week, when Mokuba had to stay late at school for detention. There had been nearly a whole day of quiet two months ago when Yuai had dragged Mokuba off to visit the astronomy lab over at Domino University. Then there had been that long stretch of suffocating quiet a few months back, that still woke him at night, his hand reaching out to make sure Jo was there.

"Almost eerie, ain't it." Jonouchi stood next to him, looking around the room as if he'd never seen it before.

Kaiba shrugged, "He'll be back quick enough."

"Wanna unpack?" Jonouchi took another look around and noticed that the message light on the phone was blinking. He walked over and pressed the button.

Kaiba shook his head, "Later, right now I've got some work to catch up on, that I was putting off."

Jonouchi nodded as the first message played.

"Big Brother. I am NEVER FORGIVING YOU FOR THIS. DO YOU HEAR ME! NEVER! Oh, and I forgot my favorite shampoo, can you send it to me? Love ya. Bye."

Beep.

"I knew he was going to forget something." Kaiba walked to the staircase, pausing at the foot to hear the rest of the messages.

"Mr. Kaiba, this is Mr. Ichikara from Domino High School. It seems that your attendance record has reached an all time low. Please call your guidance counselor. Thank you."

Beep.

Jonouchi grinned, "I knew it. You're turning into a juvenile delinquent. As an impressionable young man, I should probably stay away from you, 'till you change your slothful, underachiever ways."

Kaiba snorted, turned and began to playfully stalk towards Jo. "Delinquent, huh?"

Jonouchi backed up grinning. "You stay where you are. Your laziness if probably infectious."

"Jo, it's Mai. Honda's been in a accident at the track."

Jonouchi's smile disappeared as he swung around to face the phone.

"We haven't been able to see him yet, so I can't tell you how he is. We're at Domino General in the emergency room."

Kaiba stood behind Jo, his hand on his shoulder.

"His dad, Ribbon, Anzu and I are here. We tried to call Yugi, but he left for that convention, but his grandpa is going to leave a message at the hotel for him to call."

Jonouchi leaned back against Kaiba, eyes riveted to the phone.

"So if you get this, get over here."

Beep.

Jonouchi and Kaiba were already out the door before the ending beep. The door slamming behind them. The last message played to an empty room.

"Hi, Jo. It's Honda. Everything's okay, Don't get your panties in a wad. I got a broken wrist, a couple scrapes and lots of fun medicine. Never realized sunshine was purple before... Anywho, I'll be going home in a couple of hours. Come over then and I'll let you sign my cast. Bye."

Reviews make the world go around!


	10. Better and Worse

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I am just playing with it a bit for entertainment. The story and Yuai are mine though! You can't have them. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!

Okay, by now, if you haven't read Chrysalis then you just aren't going to. So if you don't get it, don't complain to me....

Author's Note: No one ever said Jonouchi was a medical whiz.

Emergence

Chapter 10: Better and Worse

Yuai

Yuai stepped out of the limo and stretched, it had been a wonderful trip, snuggling with Yugi. It hadn't even crossed her mind that she had to act more girlfriendy. Not once. _I guess fake it till you make it works._ She smiled as Yugi bounded out of the limo and looked around.

It was a pretty place. The hotel itself was modern with white stone sweeping up into pure walls and down around it's base in pools of smooth patios and delicate archways. Rich, honey colored window frames and massive doors warmed the nearly sterile walls, helped by lush green gardens that seemed to seep out of the surrounding forest in a carpet of small willow trees, tiny stunted pines, bushes, rocks and shy flowers that peeked out under their larger kin. A small waterfall danced lightly down the edge of one of the entrance walls, falling into an elegant koi pond surrounded by serene white rocks.

Yugi stood looking happily around, "This is great!" He bounded over to the koi pond and searched through the water. "Look! The fish are all white."

Yuai scampered over to look as the driver hefted their luggage onto a luggage dolly. The fish were all sailing breezily through the deep clear water. Yugi bent closer and the fish rose swirling near the surface, bumping lightly against each other as they vied for attention.

"Mr. Moto?" The driver held Yugi's golden puzzle. "This was left in the car, shall I put it in your room?"

Yugi shrugged, "Sure."

The driver nodded and walked into the hotel towing their luggage behind him.

Yuai tugged on Yugi's sleeve, "Let's go check in."

Yugi nodded and they walked in the massive front doors. It was, Yuai supposed, a beautiful lobby, filled with light, soaring white walls, and elegant flourishes of art. It was all drowned though by what seemed like hundreds of people who whipped around and stampeded toward Yugi as they walked in the door.

"Yugi! It's Yugi Moto!" Girls shrieked, boys yelled, reaching out tugging on Yugi's clothes and hair.

"Ooooh, he's so cute!"

"Yugi, I love you!"

"No, I do."

"No, me."

Yuai got shoved aside as they crowded around.

"Yugi, marry me."

Yugi looked panicked as the girls started pulling at him, yanking him in one direction then the next. He looked wildly around for Yuai and couldn't see her in the stampeded of zealous fans that shoved and groped. His shirt sleeve ripped, coming off in one girls hand.

"Oh, look! I have his sleeve!"

The frenzy got worse. Yuai was nearly thrown into the wall as the girls, and a few boys, swarmed closer, ripping and tearing. A group of security guards appeared and waded through the throng and started restoring order. In a few moments a now raggedy, disoriented Yugi was hauled out and stuffed unceremoniously into a nearby room. The crowd growled unhappily at the loss of their toy and swung around looking for new prey. Yuai ducked quickly away, darting behind a tree as the security people started breaking the pack up and sending them off. A few pack members scampered off gloating over scraps of shirt and one looked like he had Yugi's belt. In a few moments, only a few stragglers remained. Yuai peeked out from behind the plant and assessed the situation. Deeming it safe, she carefully stepped out and approached the front desk.

"May I help you?" The counter clerk looked a bit frazzled.

"Hello, I'm Yuai Tasuke. I have a reservation under the name Seto Kaiba." Yuai was amused to see the clerk jump at Kaiba's name. She'd have to tell him about it later. He'd get a laugh out of it. Not that he'd ever show it.

The clerk produced her pass keys, a tumble of complementary certificates, and a badge in an amazingly short amount of time. "It's a pleasure to have you visit us Ms. Tasuke."

Yuai nodded, "I came in with Yugi Moto. What happened to him?"

The clerk looked around, as if wondering where Yugi had disappeared to. "I will look into it immediately Ms. Tasuke."

Yuai nodded, "Are our rooms close together?"

The woman looked at her computer screen and typed frantically for a few seconds, looked quickly up at Yuai, then returned to her typing. "Yes, he's right next door to your room."

Yuai nodded, pocketing her things and wondering if the Kaiba halo of influence had suddenly shuffled the rooms in the hotel. She wouldn't be terribly surprised; she'd seen entire restaurants shuffle their seating just to accommodate a whim of Mokuba's, for ice cream. She had once made the mistake of mentioning Kaiba's name while shopping for some kind of solvent to get Mokuba's bubble gum out of the mouth of Kaiba's dragon statue. Half the personnel of the store suddenly started fawning around her, drowning her in free samples and clucking and cooing at her like a lone chick stuck in an overly maternal hen house. As luck would have it, she could have stayed home and taken care of the whole problem with a jar of peanut butter and a ladder.

The clerk handed a neat folder, "Here are the convention schedule and coupons. There will be a luncheon tomorrow and a formal dinner this evening. Your table will be at the front, the table number and seating arrangement are inside the folder."

"Thank you." Yuai turned away, looking around for any sign of Yugi. The security men were still roving around, looking sharply at all the people in the lobby as if expecting them to swarm around again like a group of angry bees. She turned back to the clerk. "Yugi?"

"Oh, yes. Right away." She disappeared into the depths of the white walls and oak trim. A few moments later, she reappeared, plastering a smile in place, "Mr. Moto will be brought to his rooms in just a few moments. Security is just arranging a few matters."

Yuai had been subject to security measures since the shooting. She'd been hoping to be free of security and their weird priorities at least for one weekend. Still, if it kept Yugi safe, who was she to complain? She checked the directions to her room and went off to find what surprises the Kaiba name had produced in the realm of accommodations.

Yami

The hill sheered down into a soft carpet of teal grass with sharp black boulders shouldering their way through the smoothness. A stand of trees clustered at the base of the hill, delicate silver trunks and furry orange leaves waving merrily in the light breeze that carried the scent of flowers and spring time. A tiny stream of water trickled downward, winding among the rocks in a delicate ribbon of brilliant yellow.

Yami grinned happily, tossing a corpse down the slope as he surveyed the land. It bounced as it rolled sending lovely splashes of blood across the grass and rocks. It was a nice contrast. He felt the creature was rather rude to break the perfection of the moment by losing its shoes and part of one arm on the way down, but the overall picture was still pleasant enough.

Another plump creature tried to dart away. Yami shifted lightly, noticing the movement, feeling a surge of glee that there was still one left. It had been another dull day of miserable trudging till he chanced upon them. The creature looked back over its shoulder. It shrieked seeing Yami's eyes on it and ran, trying to find cover behind a large outcropping of boulders. Yami fingered his knife, feeling the slick oiliness of blood on its hilt and leapt forward. The creature screamed again, throwing its arms over its head in a futile attempt to defend itself.

Yami liked the feel of blood sliding warm and slick over his fingers. He loved the sound of the creature's shrieks of pain. He hungered for the indescribable feeling of flesh parting under the sharp edge of the knife. When he was finished, he sent the body tumbling after the first one, feeling rather sorry that he'd run out of them. They had such lovely voices as he cut the life out of them.

He looked absently around, hoping there might still be one left. Even a little one would do. There were, however, none, only the scattered bodies of the small group he had chanced on and small pools of blood, littered on the grass and black boulders. He kicked one plump corpse hopefully, but it disappointingly refused to show any sign of life. He was alone again.

"Oh well, that was fun." Yami shrugged, "Back to work."

Yugi

Yugi sat staring at the picture on the wall; it was a rather bland scene of a beach with small red and white tents. He wondered if there were people in the tents. He wondered if they had brought those tents with them, if they brought sun block, if they stayed in the tents or if they came out to enjoy the beach. He wondered why they brought the tents in the first place.

"Hey, Yami. Would you bring a tent to the beach?"

He tipped his head, listening.

"I wouldn't. Why go to the beach if you're just going to stay in a tent?"

He laughed.

"Well, I suppose, but why?"

Yugi nodded.

"I guess."

A security man walked into the room and motioned for Yugi to follow. Yugi scampered to his feet and bounced after him out the door and down the corridor.

"We have set up a security detail to accompany you." The guard strode briskly in front of him. "Please call before you leave your rooms."

Yugi nodded, lightly skipping at his side, "Okay. Not a problem." He looked out the windows as they passed, noting the trees pressing close to the building. _Those trees are really pretty, aren't they?_ _Did you see Yuai on the way up? She was actually made the driver stop so she could look at the trees._

Yugi frowned, running slightly as he noticed he'd fallen behind the security guard.

_You think? I don't know. She had to have been in the forest at some time..._

They finally turned a corner and the security guard walked over to a door and opened it, then handed Yugi the key card. "Here's your room. If you need to go out, remember to call."

Yugi laughed, "Oh, okay."

The man nodded and walked back down the hall. Yugi stepped farther inside and closed the door behind him.

"Do you want to go down to the convention Yami?"

Yugi shook his head with a small smile.

"Okay, later."

He saw his suitcase sitting neatly on the luggage stand with his puzzle sitting on top of it. He giggled and picked it up.

"That's strange Yami. I didn't know that I could hear you with the puzzle so far away."

Kaiba

Honda waved his now cast entombed wrist, giggling. "Nose hair, hey, Jo, you got nose hair." He leaned forward looking closely at him. "Man, not a good look."

They were waiting for the release papers. Honda's father was still filling out insurance papers and the rest of the paperwork had to wait till those were finished and processed. They had nothing to do but wait, and listen to Honda babble. He'd been talking nearly non-stop for the last hour. The longer he talked the stranger he became.

Jonouchi sat in a chair nodding, "Honda you are really out of it."

"You're just ticked because you didn't get any fun medicine." Honda snickered now inspecting Mai.

"Yep, that's gotta be it." Jonouchi slouched in the chair, rolling his eyes.

Mai grinned back and leaned curvily against the wall and shaking her head, "That's it all right, if we had funny medicine we'd be happy too."

Honda giggled, "All you gotta do is break your wrist. It's easy as falling off a bike." He started laughing, nearly rolling off the narrow bed he was sitting on. Jo reached over and gently pushed him back before he fell.

Ribbon carefully opened the door and walked in followed by Anzu, both of them carrying sodas. "Did we miss something?" Ribbon handed Jonouchi a Dr. Pepper and sat down on the edge of the bed by Honda.

"Honda was just giving Jo fashion advice." Mai tugged Anzu next to her snitching a sip from her Pepsi, then making a face. "Couldn't you get a Coke?"

Anzu nudged her in the ribs. "If you don't like, get your own."

Mai stole another sip, shrugging, "Too much work."

Kaiba stepped in and motioned for Jonouchi to come out. Jonouchi pulled himself to his feet and walked out, nudging Honda lightly on the shoulder, "Be back in a sec."

Kaiba was walking down the hall making a small group of student nurses cluster together in a small flock and look dreamily after him. Jonouchi shook his head and ran to catch up, smiling to himself as he passed the nurses.

"What's up?"

Kaiba frowned and kept walking. "Duke just showed up."

"Huh?" Jonouchi looked around wondering where Duke was and why Kaiba was being so calm about it.

"He's over in the psych unit." Kaiba glanced quickly over at Jonouchi, trying to read his reaction, trying to tell himself he didn't care, that he wasn't worried.

"The psych unit?" Jonouchi was semi-relieved that Duke wasn't in the emergency room, put there by Kaiba, still... "How the hell did he end up there?"

"The police brought him in." Kaiba found the door he wanted and entered into a small waiting room. "They found him in an alley. Apparently the victim of an assault."

"Then why...."

"It looks like he's been living on the street for the last few months." Kaiba turned and faced Jonouchi. "He can't remember who he is."

"What! You gotta be kidding me. He can't remember?" Jonouchi shook his head trying to make sense of what he was being told.

"One of the nurses thought she recognized him, when they brought him in. Honda's doctor asked me to identify him, since we go to the same school." Kaiba watched Jonouchi closely as he talked, still trying to gage his reaction. "It's him. He didn't recognize me."

"Oh man, that's just..." Jonouchi bit his lip, "Is he sick or something?"

Kaiba turned away stalking over to a chair and casually dropping himself into it. "They're still trying to figure that out."

Jonouchi shivered. Just before Duke had disappeared last winter, he'd spent time playing mattress games with him. If it was some kind of sickness that made Duke lose his memory, then it might be contagious, and if it was contagious there was the possibility that he had it. And if that were true, he could have given it to Kaiba. _Oh, Kami, isn't there some kind of disease in England that makes your brain turn to mush? Shit, shit, shit, shit. If Seto's brain turns to cottage cheese, it's all my fault._ "Where is he?"

"The psych unit. Remember?" Kaiba felt a small sliver of fear slip under his skin as Jonouchi turned toward the door. "Where are you going?"

"I want to see Duke." Jo opened the door.

"No." Kaiba reached out and caught Jonouchi's arm.

"What the hell do you mean, no?" Jonouchi turned back around, glaring at Kaiba and shaking free.

"I said no. The doctors are with him and it's none of our concern." Kaiba stood returning the glare.

"Hey, he's..." Jonouchi paused, he couldn't really say Duke was a friend, not after what had happened. "He's sick, and he doesn't have any family. It's not like he has a lot of people that give a damn."

"Guess what. I'm one of those people." Kaiba growled. "Stay away from him."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jonouchi slammed the door he'd been holding closed.

"Stay away from Duke. Whatever's going on with him, I want you out of it." Kaiba forced himself to speak at least semi-calmly.

Jonouchi snarled, "I'll do what I want to and if I want to see Duke, I'll see him." He yanked open the door.

"Jonouchi, don't..." The rest of Kaiba's words were cut off by the door slamming closed behind Jonouchi. Kaiba stood looking at the door for a few moments, resisting the urge to go after Jonouchi and make him... _What? What will I make him do?_ Kaiba sat back down leaning forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and running his hands through his hair. _Make him come back? Make him stay away from his old lover? _Kaiba shook his head and stood up, smoothing his hair back into place. He stepped out of the room and walked down to the lobby where his driver was waiting.

"The office. Call for another car to come for Jonouchi." He walked out of the hospital, half aware of his driver and a couple of security men scrambling in his wake.

He knew he was overreacting. He trusted Jo, as much as he was capable of trusting anyone, still a nasty voice that sounded suspiciously like his late adoptive father sneered in his head. _Trust, huh? An argument, Jo running off to Duke, wasn't this how it started last time? Pathetic. How long ago was it? Four, five months? And you trust him. Idiot. _He shook his head and settled into the limo as the driver opened the door.

Jame

Kaiba's office looked great, at least to her. All the file cabinets that had lurked in ebony and mahogany splendor along one wall were now tucked into her office. His chrome and glass desk sat pristinely in front of the window. A couple of exotic trees branched delicately in the corners and a chrome and black sofa sat moodily under a black and white picture of the Tokyo skyline. It looked like something out of a designer magazine. Jame smiled, if this didn't get her fired, she was really going to have to get desperate.

_The one thing I really can't stand is for someone to play with my files._ She stepped back into her own office, patting the new additions. _Not only have I reorganized the files, but moved them completely out of his office. _She sighed happily as she sat down in her chair. _So Hawaii is out, but I still have five months before I have to get back to work. I think Morocco sounds nice._ She cooed to herself as she swung in her chair, then frowned at the older file cabinets. _Hell, why not just mix them together. If I do a real good job, Kaiba will probably boot me to Morocco personally._ She grinned and dove in.

Okay folks, remember to review, it only takes a few seconds and I love to hear from all of you!

Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Unfulfilled Vow by Shiroi Misa**- It's a Jou/Kaiba story without the romance. Sort of a cross between a ghost story and a mystery. Creepy little piece but very, very well done. (Complete)

**Bunnies from Hell by Moerae**- Oh, god, she made a sequel to Bastet's Child! Bakura as a bunny rabbit! Who said Ryou was a wimp? It's fantastic, read it quick! (Incomplete)

Rurouni Kenshin

**Keep the Shadows at Bay by Chaosdreamer**- This just started and it looks to be pretty good so far...(Incomplete)

**Hiko Seijuro Owners Guide and Maintenance Manual by Hikari Hrair-rah**- If you love the arrogant sword master, this one is a must. (Complete) This is on


	11. Surprise Visitors

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. I get nothing from this except giggles and sore fingers.

Read Chrysalis! You might even want to read Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Then come back and read this.

Emergence

Chapter 11: Surprise Visitors

Kaiba and Jame

Jame yawned and stretched in her chair. She'd come in today, a Saturday, for the express purpose of making Kaiba's life miserable and she felt she'd done an excellent job. His precious files had been transferred out of his office and now resided in her territory, refiled, reorganized and now tucked neatly away in the elegant ebony and mahogany file cabinets that she had stolen from his office. If nothing else she had finally found some of the files that she'd been wondering about. She had found traces of them in the secretarial files and had been looking for the rest of them. _Well, found 'em. Not that it matters, Kaiba should boot me off to my vacation any time now._ She snuggled down into her chair, chortling to herself. _I think I'll sleep first, then the beach. Or better yet, go to the beach and sleep, then dinner at a cabaña. Hmmm. What was the name of that hotel with the cabaña, could just stay there... _

Jame swung her chair and looked out the window. Domino City spread before her. It's neatly ordered streets stretching out towards the docks, with the bay gleaming in the background. It wasn't that she hated Domino, she enjoyed it. She liked spending lazy mornings wandering through the markets that crowded down along the docks, eating lunch out at the fisherman's wharf. Saturday evenings there was usually a rather good band that played in the open air amphitheater, complete with fire works and sticky cotton candy. The evenings that she spent sitting out in one of the plaza restaurants, eating and drinking and talking with friends till the sun rose, would also be missed when she left. Still, she was a busy person, she couldn't spend her life playing secretary to Kaiba. In only a couple months her vacation would be over and she'd be off once again with Tink, Pease and Drover.

She looked up as the door between her office and Kaiba's opened and her boss walked through. She suppressed her gleeful smile, but couldn't completely hide the happy excitement that bubbled merrily along her veins as he strode over to her desk. She sat up straight, eyes gleaming. _He's never done that before! Morocco here I come!_

"Jame, where is the file for Quistcell Tech.?" He didn't look upset. He didn't even seem put out. He seemed mildly distracted.

Jame reached back and snagged the file out, barely looking at it and handed it over, eyeing him, waiting for the comment, the moment of freedom she'd spent her Saturday working for. Kaiba took the file and walked back out already scanning its contents. The door closed with a soft thump behind him, leaving Jame blinking at the mahogany panel.

_What the hell? Not even a tiny growl?_ She absently picked up a pencil that had strayed into the pen side of her desk organizer and replaced it back with it's fellows on the correct side. _What does it take to be fired around here?_

Yuai

Yuai stepped out into the hall and walked the few steps it took to get over to Yugi's room. He hadn't been answering his phone and she was a bit worried about him. She hoped the nuttos in the lobby hadn't hurt him. They had looked pretty serious as they had started ripping Yugi's clothes apart and tugging at his hair. She knocked on his door and waited. She heard nothing so knocked again, then felt guilty. _What if he's asleep. Poor Yugi, he really hasn't been having a good day. He was so totally zoned out this morning and then he gets attacked in the lobby. He's probably just taking a nap. Maybe, he's coming down with something._

She stepped away from the door and checked the time, it was just a little before lunch. Her stomach, that had become rather decadently used to regular meals, agreed with her watch that lunch should appear in the near future. She looked one last time at Yugi's door then turned and walked down the hall to the elevator.

The lobby was quiet as she pattered through it heading for the main desk. "Hello?"

A young man in an impeccably ironed three piece suit, appeared from behind a privacy screen in the back of the desk and smiled at her, "Yes, how can I help you?" He looked her over carefully and Yuai could see the exact moment he decided she wasn't worth his best efforts. His prissy mouth took on a condescending smirk and his eyes became indifferent.

She sighed, mentally shrugging. "Yes, I am Yuai Tasuke. Could you see if there are any messages for me from Seto Kaiba?"

The man's smirk wavered for a second, then returned, "We haven't received any messages since this morning." His eyes took on a malicious look. "An unfortunate car accident. Some poor soul crashed head long into a rather large truck and both of them went down into one of the ravines, taking a good section of the lines with them. It is estimated that the phone lines won't be restored till tomorrow at the earliest."

Yuai felt the sudden need to go wash. "Thank you." She retreated from the desk area quickly as the attendant slithered back into his hole._ What a slimy git._

She noticed the little sign that discreetly pointed in the direction of the convention and walked in that direction. As she wound her way back into the depths of the convention center, a raising hum of noise reached her ears. The little trail of signs lead her to a set of double doors with a large banner draped above it declaring, "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here" in slightly smaller letters beneath it read, "Duel Monsters Annual Convention." A large poster next to one of the doors had Yugi's picture on it and happily declared that "The King of Games" would make a special guest appearance. Even in the picture, Yugi didn't look all that thrilled to be there, if anything his picture self looked a little worried about everything.

Yuai looked at the not so inspiring banner then back down to the worried picture. "Why do I have this feeling I should have stayed home with Mokuba?"

She opened the door and the dull hum crescendoed into a wall of sound. Inside hundreds, if not thousands of people surged through the immense hall. Colorful signs eagerly vied for the title of the most gaudy; music blared through the loudspeakers, made indistinct by the crush of humanity; people dressed in various Duel Monster costumes yelled, trying to be heard; kids ran wild, with their harried parents vainly trying to keep up with them; displays flashed neon lights, while others were nearly lost in thick mists of dry ice fog. Yuai stepped in and trudged forward. "Okay, I abandon all hope. I hope the banner is happy now."

The first table she encountered had small figurines on it. Each one was only about two inches high and made of some kind of plastic. She giggled as she noticed a small figure with brown hair and a flaring trench coat. She picked it up and looked at it closely, then burst into outright laughter. It was Kaiba, standing in what was supposed to be a heroic, determined pose. Unfortunately, whoever made it had never really taken a good look at her employer, or any other human for that matter. Statue Kaiba's eyes were crooked and too big, making him look like one of those alien's that occasionally appeared in the market tabloids. The funniest thing was, however, that due to a quirk in the molding process, his crotch bulged out amazingly in the front while his but stuck perkily up in the back. She quickly scanned the table finding a Yugi statue, who's hair looked like it was trying to eat his head; and a small Jonouchi statue was also there, that was stuck to the table with a small glob of florist's putty, the immense weight of it's hair overbalancing it if it wasn't firmly tacked down.

She scooped up the tiny replicas of her friends and was about to flag down the counter attendant when something caught her eye. It was toward the back of the table in the more expensive section, a resin statue of a magician she'd never seen before. It was much larger than the others nearly six inches in height. He was kneeling, holding a scepter of some kind in one hand, long dark hair snaked down his back, blue skin with odd almost tattoo like marks around his eyes seemed to stretch over aristocratically fine features, red eyes gleamed back at her from beneath a hat that branched back into two sweeps like horns. Her hand reached out for it, carefully picking it up without her conscious direction, cradling it as it were something infinitely precious.

"Ah, I see we have a fan of the Magician of Black Chaos." The booth owner stepped over to her, nodding at the small statue in her hand. He smiled at her through a long, though neatly trimmed white beard and mustache.

Yuai jumped slightly, putting the statue down, "Yes, it's quite... I mean it's..." She extended the smaller statues toward him. "I'll take these."

He barely glanced at them as he wrapped them up, his blue eyes never leaving Yuai, "I haven't seen you at one of these conventions before."

Yuai dragged her eyes away from the magician statue. "I came with a friend. I'm just learning how to play."

"Ah, I expect you will find it's a easy game for you to learn." He took her money and handed her the bag. "Just remember not to get distracted, and you'll do fine."

Yuai nearly snatched the bag from his hands. "Sure, thanks." She bolted for the other side of the hall.

Yami

The town was tucked in the center of a small mountain valley. High above the tops of snow covered peaks were wreathed in wispy clouds and set against deep blue sky. Green trees covered the sides of the mountains in a soft carpet of vibrant, reds and russets. The scent of autumn and wood smoke filled the crisp, cool air as the sound of childish laughter and the dull clang of metal meeting metal from the town smithy echoed along the dirt streets. The buildings, made of stone with thatched roofs, bustled with activity as people went about their daily lives.

High on one of the slopes, Yami curled into a ball at the foot of one of the trees, looking down at the gentle bustle of life that was below him. He'd finally stumbled onto this small village this morning and had been sitting under the tree resting, wondering. Someplace in his mind he knew he had to do something, something important, but he couldn't remember it now. Now all he had was this terrible sense of loss.

Tears streaked down his face as he wound his arms tighter about himself. "Yugi, where are you?"

He buried his face behind his knees, blocking out the sight. Each happy laugh ripping into his soul. He held himself tighter and tried to cover his ears, trying to block them out. _My fault, my fault. I must have done something..._ He shivered, feeling a deep, deep cold that had nothing to do with the fall weather, set into his soul. _Something bad to make Yugi go away. Make him send me away._

"Why? What did I do? I'm sorry Yugi. Please, what did I do? I'll make it right. Please, forgive." A soft sob slipped out, "Please Yugi. Please. Please. I'm sorry. I'll behave. I promise. Please, please, please help me."

"Hush now, it's alright." Gentle hands stroked through his hair, a soft thick blanket was wrapped around him.

Yami clenched his body tighter, screwing his eyes shut, trying to block out the intrusion, "No, no. No, no."

"Shhh, it's alright." Hands pulled him, lifted him, cradled him against a strong chest. "Everything will be fine, my friend. Your safe now."

"No. Please. I'm sorry." Yami shook his head, trying to push away from the person holding him.

"It's okay. Yugi isn't angry with you." The arms held him still.

The voice was deep, soothing, familiar. Yami looked up into smiling, dark blue eyes. "Mahado?"

"Your servant, always, my pharaoh."

Jonouchi

Duke looked alright. Jonouchi peered into the room where he was sleeping, tucked under a light blue blanket. He looked a bit thin and he had bruises along his arms and a couple on his face, but nothing really serious. He wasn't ranting, or raving or doing strange things. He was just peacefully sleeping on a rather uncomfortable looking bed in a room that had a pleasant view of the front of the hospital with it's sweeping drive and cheery flowers.

Jo looked up and down the hall and stepped, checking for any patrolling nurses, then stepped in the room, closing the door silently behind him. He walked over to the bed and peered down at his one time lover. Up close he didn't look too bad either, maybe he was a bit pale and tired looking, but then Jo figured if he had just been mugged and forced to stay in this place, he'd be looking rather tired and pale too. He looked around the room for a chart and his eyes met those of another visitor, causing Jonouchi to bolt back towards the door.

"What are you doing here?" Jonouchi pressed against the door, cursing himself for closing it, desperately wishing he'd thought to drag someone along with him, like Kaiba, or Bakura, hell, right now he was willing to go drive up to that damn convention and drag Yami back to the hospital.

"Just checking something." Marik stood in one corner of the room, a loony, evil smile spreading across his lips.

A suspicion zipped across Jonouchi's mind. "Did you do this?" He pointed at Duke.

Marik shook his head. "Nope, been too busy to play mind games with you people." He looked speculatively at Duke. "Nice idea though. Why fight them when you can just mind wipe them." He fingered the Millennium Rod that hung from his belt. "Could work. Maybe even implant a directive to have you all march into the ocean and drown yourselves. No body disposal that way. Hmmm." He smiled his loony smile at Jonouchi. "Thanks for the thought."

"Glad to have helped." Jonouchi tugged at the door handle, trying to get the door open, without actually looking like he was planning on bolting from the room.

The spirit of the ring went back to studying Duke closely, leaving Jonouchi alone, letting him recover from his shock. Yugi had mentioned that Marik had calmed down lately, that the spirit had even done something, though Yugi refused to say exactly what, that had helped out Ryou. Jo wasn't about to let his guard down, but maybe the crazed blond yami could give him an idea what was going on.

"Uhm, exactly what are you checking out?" Jonouchi sidled to the side, keeping one hand safely on the door handle, just in case.

"The pharaoh asked me to keep an eye on you lot till he got back." Marik shrugged. "I'm not sure if this idiot qualifies, but..."

_Gee thanks, Yami. I feel so safe._ "So, nothing strange here." Jo got the door opened and was ready to step back out.

"Nope. Nothing but a bit of shadow magic." Marik waved his hand negligently at Duke's prone form. "Nothing strange in the least."

The door silently closed as Jonouchi let go of the handle and stepped closer to the bed. "What do you mean?"

Marik yawned and stepped toward the door. "His mind's been wiped by shadow magic."

"You mean someone with a Millennium item wiped Duke's mind?" Jonouchi started to reach out to stop Marik, then quickly thought better of it.

The blond yami smiled at Jo's extended hand, which was quickly snatched back, "No, I don't sense that, but it was shadow magic. I'll let the pharaoh know when he gets back."

Jonouchi watched the door slip shut behind Marik, then turned and walked back to Duke's bedside. "What the hell happened Duke?"  
The silent form didn't reply. There were no marks, no evidence that Duke had been attacked by shadow magic. Nothing. But then, there wouldn't be. Jonouchi remembered what had happened to him during Battle City. Except for a couple of bruises, nothing of that entire ordeal had shown. He'd been captured, his mind had been taken from him and all that he had to show for it was a lingering head ache, a slight phobia of spooky warehouses and a few minor bruises. He'd taken more of a physical pounding going down a waterslide last summer with Mokuba and Yugi.

"Who did this to ya Duke?" He reached out and cautiously brushed his fingers against Dukes cheek. "You've been gone for so long, and here I thought you were just being a jerk." Jonouchi abruptly stepped back, hearing the sound of voices in the hall. "Don't worry about it, 'kay? Yami'll be back and I'll get him to come over and help ya out."

He peered out into the hall and ducked out and quickly raced down the hall and around a corner as a group of doctors appeared. He sighed in relief and strode as casually as possible back in the direction of Honda and the waiting room. _Who the hell is it now? Who knows shadow magic? _

Kaiba

Kaiba thumped the file back onto the desk and glowered at the phone. He'd been pretending to work since arriving, and so far he hadn't been able to convince himself that he'd actually accomplished it. All he'd managed to do was stare at the computer, flip through the file, draw a few stick figures in the margins, contemplate taking art classes, notice that his secretary had organized his desk again and brood over Jo. Jo and Duke. Duke and Jo. Maybe he'd been wrong, maybe Jo's involvement with Duke had been more than a way to blow steam. Jo had nearly bolted out the door the second he'd heard that Duke was in trouble. Admittedly, Jo was kind hearted, loyal to his friends, but shouldn't that loyalty carry over? Shouldn't at least a small amount apply to him?

_Loyalty?_ His step father's voice snapped. _It you want loyalty get a dog. Even then the mutt is bound to snap at you._

Kaiba shook his head and got up to stretch. The sunlight streaming through the windows said it was still early in the day, probably around noon time. By now Honda should be home watching the walls wobble. By now Jonouchi had seen Duke. By now Mokuba was probably in some group therapy session, cursing his brother while shifting uncomfortably in a plastic chair. By now Yuai was up at the convention center with Yugi enjoying herself and hopefully picking him up some cards. He wished he'd gone.

He stopped looked out the window at the noontime sun and made a few calculations. It would probably only take a few moments to pack the files he'd need into his briefcase. A quick trip to the house to pick up a few things for the weekend, a couple of phone calls and he could be on his way. He turned and scanned his office quickly and nodded. _Why not? Mokuba doesn't need me at home. Jo is probably going to spend the rest of the weekend hovering over Duke and I know that hotel has internet connections._ He scooped up the file he'd been pretending to work on, grabbed his briefcase off the floor and was striding toward the door even as he tucked the file away and snapped the case shut. He poked his head into Jame's office as he passed by and smiled to see her busily flipping through the file cabinets, taking out some papers and placing them in a neat stack on her desk.

"I'm out for the weekend. If anything happens I'll be at the Itadaki Convention Center." Kaiba stepped back intending to make his get away.

"Wait a second, you." She neatly straitened the papers with a snap and placed them in a waiting file. "Take these. They've got to be done by next Thursday." She handed him the newly made file, then reached over and pulled two more files out of the cabinet and handed them to him too. "You'll need these, too." She then went back to fussing over the files, waving a dismissing hand over her shoulder. "Now go away. You're bothering me."

Kaiba stashed them in his briefcase and walked out the door, feeling a little bit better. His at least his work life was still organized. He walked down the hall to the elevator, then stood waiting till the doors opened with a small discreet ding, trying to figure out if there was anything else he would need. _Not really. Probably should at least talk to Jo before I leave. Let him know where I'm going. Give him the chance to come along if he wants._

_Not likely._ The voice whispered back.

Yugi

Yugi sat down at the small table in the coffee shop and smiled happily up at the waitress, who stared doubtfully back. "We'd like two chocolate milkshakes please."

The waitress nodded casting a questioning look at the empty place across from her client. The little guy had been insisting that 'his friend' and he wanted lunch. She even had to get two menus and pull out the chair for his friend. She was now wondering if she should inform hotel management that they had a loony on the premises. "Anything else I can bring you...two, right now?"

"Nope." He smiled, then looked over the table as if his friend had made a comment. Then shook his head with a tiny laugh. "Can you bring us some bread sticks?"

"No problem." She made a quick note then backed quickly away, after reaching what she considered a safe distance she turned and bolted for the kitchen.

Yugi watched her go, "Wow, she must really be in a rush Yami."

He giggled, "Yeah, she was acting a bit weird. But she's just probably having a bad day."

Yugi watched as a slight blond figure pulled the door open and entered the restaurant. He bounced up and waved to his friend. "Hey, look it's Yuai. Isn't it nice to see her again. I wonder what she's doing here."

He frowned, "But Yami, you said not to teach her Duel Monsters, so why would she be at the convention."

He paused a moment then nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose it's possible. She does know a lot of games. Oh, look, she's really cleaned up. I wonder when she got her hair cut."

Yuai stopped at the table and smiled. "Hi Yugi."

"Hi. Wow it's great to see you here. Want to sit down?" He pointed to the chair next to him.

Yuai looked at the spot were a menu sat as she settled in the indicated chair, "Are you expecting someone?"

"No. Why?" Yugi opened his menu and looked curiously at the offerings.

Yuai shrugged.

The waitress walked over and handed her a menu, just as she was reaching for the extra one. "Here, hon, take this, and if you need help, you just ask for it. Okay?" The waitress looked pointedly at Yugi.

"Uh, sure." Yuai watched her retreat to the other side of the restaurant. "She's strange."

"Yami thinks she's overworked." Yugi nodded to the empty place with the menu.

"Yami?" She looked around expecting to see someone. Finding no one she looked questioningly at Yugi. "Who's Yami?"

"Oh, I guess that's right. I never did introduce you." Yugi laughed, "That's really rude of me." He waved toward Yuai. "Yami, this is my friend Yuai." He waved in the direction of the empty chair. "Yuai, this is my best friend Yami."

"Excuse me?" Yuai looked wide eyed at him. _Oh, Kami. He must have really gotten smacked in the head hard._

Yugi frowned at her, then giggled, "Ooops. I'm really sorry Yuai. I forgot. I'm the only one who can see him. But, honest, he's sitting right there."

Yuai only nodded. _Oh poor Yugi._

"So when did you get your hair cut? Oh and I really like those clothes too. Did your mom and dad get them for you?"

Yuai felt her mouth drop open. "Huh?" her voice squeaked.

"They look nice on you. Much better than that uniform." The waitress deposited two milkshakes, one in front of Yugi and the other at the empty chair, then turned and gave Yuai a pointed look and nodded to the back of the restaurant where a couple of men were peering out of the door to what was evidently the kitchen.

Yuai nodded and stood up. "Hey, I need to just...uh...well use the lady's room. I'll be right back."

Yugi nodded and leaned over the table as if he was listening to the someone who was defiantly not there.

Yuai retreated with the waitress. Nearly stumbling in her hast to get away and hopefully find someone to help her friend. The waitress pushed open the kitchen door and ushered her inside, where the two men stood eyeing her warily.

"Is he a friend of yours?" The waitress asked, glancing behind her.

"Yes, we came up here together for the convention." Yuai couldn't help the nervous glance she shot at the door. "He wasn't acting..." Suddenly she remembered Yugi's odd behavior this morning, then shook her head. _No he was just a bit sleepy, that's all._ "He got attacked in the lobby when we came in. All these people just started grabbing and shoving him around."

The two men nodded. The taller one, who looked like a chef, turned away. "Probably got his brains scrambled. Probably needs to go see a doctor."

The shorter of the two, a slender man dressed in a messy apron, sighed. "With the phones down, that'll be hard to do."

The waitress peeked back out the door. "Do you think he's dangerous?"

"Yugi would never hurt anyone." Yuai poked her head out the door too. Yugi was sitting happily drinking his milkshake and having a animated conversation with his invisible friend. "When do you think the phone lines will be fixed?"

"Not till tomorrow afternoon. Those drivers took out a good section of line and some kind of important junction box thingie." The waitress ducked back inside when Yugi turned in their direction.

"Is there a doctor in the hotel?" Yuai asked, frantically trying to figure out what to do. It was months since she took a first aid class and she wasn't all that sure if they covered delusional friends in it.

"We called him a few minutes ago. He'll be here soon." The man in the apron, waved toward a phone hung on the wall. "He's not much, but maybe he can give your friend a sedative of something."

"Okay, I'll be out with Yugi, then." She opened the door and stepped out. "Just hope he gets here quick."

Okay folks, I've finally come up with an idea for a companion piece to Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, but I need a bit of help. I need to know what do you really find annoying in Yu-Gi-Oh fanfics. I have a few ideas of my own, but I'd like to hear from you. What makes you want to beat your head on the computer in bad fics? Leave out bad grammar, spelling mistakes and the like. The more I get the funnier it will be!

Also, does anyone know of any Seth/Seto/Jonouchi fics? Just curious. Thanks!


	12. Payback's a B tch

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. I get nothing from this except giggles and sore fingers.

READ CHRYSALIS. There I said it. I know if you haven't done it by now you just aren't, but I still feel it's my karmic duty to put that there. So, anyway, karma is now satisfied, on with the story.

Emergence

Chapter 12: Payback's a B!tch.

Kaiba

Kaiba tossed his socks into his half full suitcase and walked into the closet. He looked around, idly running his fingers along the tops of his silk shirts, musing over how long he was going to stay at he convention. _I should remember to call Jame, the Quistcell take over will have to be... _He stopped, frowning, shaking his head. _I don't have time to go to the convention. I have work to do. _He stepped back out of the closet and looked at the suitcase, then shrugged and went back to the closet. _Its my time, I'll do as I like._ He randomly pulled out a couple of shirts, then stopped looking at them hanging from his hand. _I really don't have time. I have an entire take-over to deal with this week. I wanted to work on the new VR schematics, and on a new module to the Legendary Heroes Scenario, too. _He hung the shirts back on their hangers. _Then there's all the equipment requests from R&D._

He walked out into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to the suitcase rubbing his temple, thinking. _I want to go, though. And why not? It's my company. Who's to say I can't?_ _But I need to work, there is just so much._

"Hey! Kaiba!" A hand touched his shoulder. "You listening to me?"

He looked up into Jonouchi's eyes, then jerked his shoulder away from Jo's touch. "What!?" He snapped, shaking thoughts out of his head. _How the hell did he...I didn't hear him come in._

"Marik was at the hospital." Jo stepped back, frowning.

"So?" He stood up and walked back to the closet, pulling out the shirts that he had just hung up.

"He was in Duke's room. He said that..." Jonouchi stopped and watched him confused. "What are you doing?"

Kaiba pulled out a couple pairs of slacks. "I'm going to the convention."

"You're leaving?" Jo looked at the suitcase on the bed. "Don't you have stuff to do?"

"I can do it from the hotel." Kaiba tossed the pants into the suitcase, then stopped and blinked at him for a second. "Most of it." He shook his head, running one hand through his hair, ruffling it. "Why do you care?"

"What?" Jonouchi blinked. "You're taking off for no reason and you want to know why I care?" He gestured toward the suitcase. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'll do what I want." Kaiba quickly started folding the clothes neatly into the luggage. "Sooo, how's Duke?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jo reached out and caught Kaiba's hand.

Kaiba snatched it away, snarling, "Just go back to Duke. You know you want to."

"Jealous?" Jonouchi shook his head. "I can't believe it. You're jealous."

Kaiba snarled, "Leave."

Jo shook his head, laughing, "Your jealous of **Duke**?"

Kaiba stepped closer, hissing, "Get out."

Jo stepped back. "You honestly think I'd go to Duke?"

"Didn't you?" Kaiba turned away flipping his suitcase closed and zipping it shut.

"No!" Jonouchi reached out and pressed down on the suitcase, preventing Kaiba from lifting it off the bed. "What's with you? Do you think after everything that's happened I'd choose him over you?"

"Didn't you?" Kaiba lifted his hand as if he was going to shove Jonouchi back, then dropped it. "Get out Jo."

"Tell me what's going on." Jo kept his hand on the lid of the case, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Nothing is going on." Kaiba jerked the suitcase out from under Jo's hand. "Go back to Duke and leave me alone."

"Kaiba, don't..." Jo reached out and caught his hand.

Kaiba growled and lashed out, his fist striking Jo hard across the cheek, sending the slighter blond sprawling half on the bed, half sliding off. Kaiba stepped back startled, looking at his hand as if he'd never seen it before. _I just hit Jo. I hit Jo._ He started shaking, dropping the suitcase backing away. "Jo, I..." His voice was low, strained. "Get out. Get out now."

Jo sat on the floor, looking slightly dazed, a smear of blood across his cheek. "Wha' the hell?"

Kaiba kept walking back till his back hit the wall, looking at Jonouchi with wide disbelieving eyes. "Jo... You need to leave."

Jonouchi stumbled to his feet. "Kaiba?" He touched his own cheek, then looking at the smear of red on his fingers. "Why did..." He looked up at Kaiba who was now pressed back against the wall. "What the hell is going on?" He stepped closer to his lover, who tried to press himself even farther back.

"Go. Get away, Jo."

"Nuh-uh." Jonouchi shook his head. "I ain't leaving." Jo walked forward, reaching out, watching Kaiba flinch, trying to avoid his hand as he walked closer. "Tell me what's going on, love."

Kaiba shook his head. "Jo... Just ..." Distantly, he watched Jo's hand reach for him. He felt trapped, fear and blind rage coiling in his stomach, along with the nearly overwhelming need to strike out again. _No._ He forced his hands to remain still, pressing them back against the cool surface of the wall. He felt Jo's hand touch his shoulder.

"Seto, look at me." Jonouchi's voice was nearly a whisper. "Marik, at the hospital, he said..." The blond paused, hesitating over saying the name, "he said it was shadow magic. Someone used shadow magic to wipe out Duke's mind."

Kaiba's head jerked up, ice blue eyes narrowing, his mind twisting around itself. "Shadows," his voice was barely more than a breath, "shadows."

Yuai

Yuai gently herded Yugi back to his room. His body guards, who finally came striding in to the coffee shop just as she returned to her seat, trailed along behind them, looking irritable and muttering softly into their walkie talkies. Yugi bounced happily along, chattering and smiling, occasionally laughing. Unfortunately, he wasn't talking to the people that were in the hall with him. He was once again talking merrily to Yami. Yuai trudged down the hall watching it with tired eyes. _It's not even three o'clock yet. We've only been here for four hours and it feels like I've been in this hotel since the last ice age. Sort of reminds me of that creepy old movie with that axe wielding nutto and the kid on the big wheel. I swear, if Mokuba appears with a big wheel, I am so out of this place._

"Yuai?" Yugi smiled over his shoulder at her. "Would you like to play Duel Monsters with me and Yami?"

Yuai tried to summon a smile, but it seemed it was backordered and the supplier wouldn't be shipping anytime soon. "Sure, Yugi."

He bounded ahead, "Great! How about coming over to my room in an hour? Yami wants to..." Yugi suddenly blushed. "I can't tell her that!" He looked over at her sheepishly.

_I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I don't want to know._ Yuai whimpered, wishing she would just wake up and find herself back in her room; with Mokuba running around the house in his Blue Eyes tee-shirt trying to find his favorite game cartridge; Kaiba dashing up the stairs with a piece of toast in his mouth and knotting his tie; Jonouchi sleepily slouching at the breakfast table, stirring his cereal into mush. "Don't worry about it Yugi. I'll see you in an hour."

He grinned happily as he pulled his key card out of his pocket and opened his door. "Okay, see you in an hour."

"Yep." Yuai waved goodbye as the door closed.

The security guards looked at the closed door and then turned to her. It always worried her when security looked clueless. She sort of liked Kado, Kaiba's head of security. He might be pushy, annoying and often down right rude, but at least the man always looked like he knew what he was doing.

She shrugged back and waved them away, opening her own room. "Bye, thanks for coming." She closed her door, refusing to meet their eyes or answer their questions. What was she going to tell them? Her boyfriend hit his head and flipped out and was now talking to an invisible friend, who apparently had something in mind that made Yugi blush? That she really would love to call for a doctor, the one in the hotel didn't have anything he could really prescribe except aspirin and the phones were down? Heck, she didn't even have a car to drive Yugi down to see a doctor and the hotel management didn't want any of their precious employees stuck in a vehicle with someone who was hearing voices?

She stepped through the spacious suite that she'd been given, dropped her purchases on the coffee table and flopped down on the couch. She sunk into the cushions, wondering what to do. She checked the time on the small table clock that sat next to the TV and looked over at the wall that was between her room and Yugi's. _I have one hour to figure out what to do. This was not covered in school._

She suddenly shot to her feet. _Kami! I am such an idiot! Cell phones! I just need to find someone with a cell phone!_

She bolted down the hall and ran down to the front desk at what felt like light speed. A young woman with large soft eyes smiled helpfully at her. "Hello, how can I..."

"Cell phones! Does anyone here have a cell phone that I could use? My friend is...uhh, not feeling well and I really need to call a doctor." Yuai panted holding tight to the counter as if it might get ripped out of her hands at any second.

"Oh, you must be Mr. Moto's friend." The helpful smile wavered slightly. "I'm sorry, but cell phones don't work up here. The nearest tower is over twenty miles away through the mountain passes."

Yuai moaned resting her head against the counter, wondering if her day could get any worse, then froze and looked over her shoulder as the receptionist gasped and suddenly darted out of sight. Yugi was standing in the hall, tears streaming down his face.

"H-he's gone." Yugi ran over to Yuai and wrapped his arms around her waist, sobbing against her shoulder. "He's gone. I can't find him. We were just..." he broke off to sob softly in her shirt, then pulled away. "Yuai, help me find him. Something has to have happened to him." He tugged at her arm, pulling her toward the winding labyrinth that led to the convention hall. "Please Yuai, you have to help me find him."

Yuai looked into the sad, lost, insane eyes of her boyfriend and allowed herself to be hauled away.

Jame

_This is why some mothers eat their young._ Jame watched the pompous idiot stride back and forth in front of her desk, waving his hand dismissively around the office. She wasn't entirely sure what his name was, something like Michikogo, or Mikogi, or maybe Mikoki. She had figured out that he was one of Kaiba's executive assistants. She had also figured out in the first minute of his rant that Kaiba must be hard up for employees if this was the best he could come up with. _Maybe that's why I'm still here, with morons like this running around the building a fourth grader with a passable vocabulary would look like a god send._

"...it's really very simple. We just want you to keep us informed about Mr. Kaiba's itinerary. After all, we are his assistants and it is our right to know what we should be assisting him in." He paused, smiling condescendingly down at her. "It must be terribly hard on you, my dear, to make so many decisions." He sighed dramatically. "Mr. Kaiba is quite intelligent, but still, he's so young, so flighty. It must be difficult to deal with his complete undependability."

Jame vaguely wondered if he had ever met his boss. She leaned back in her chair, put on her most vapid expression and pondered how anyone could call Kaiba flighty. Admittedly, his blowing out of here to head up to a convention at the last minute had been rather spontaneous, but then, if she'd been working as hard as he did, she'd want a break too. She watched the man's eyes dart toward the file cabinets behind her, then skitter nervously back to her. His voice and manner didn't change, but his eyes kept darting around.

"You know, my dear, we could make your life so much easier. All this filing, and typing and drudge work can't be good for you." He leaned forward, placing his hands on her desk and trying to look concerned and fatherly. "And on a weekend! You really shouldn't let Mr. Kaiba treat you like this. Demand your rights, my dear. Mr. Kaiba, I promise, won't dismiss you for asking for a little consideration."

_I'm starting to get that idea._ She nodded stupidly as the man stepped back looking pleased with himself. _I wonder how many other secretaries you've had this little chat with, hmm? Did they believe you? Is that why Kaiba won't fire me?_ She suddenly grinned up at him. "You know, you're right. I'll call him right now and tell him I'm taking the rest of the weekend off." He nodded, looking like a proud parent.

She picked up the phone and dialed Kaiba's mansion, grinning brainlessly up at the dimwit in front of her. The phone rang three times before a harried voice snapped, "What?!"

"Mr. Kaiba? It's Jame, I was just having a lovely talk with Mr. Mikoki, one of your assistants." The dimwit under discussion smiled down at her with a superior look on his pallid face. "Can I get rid of him?" The smile disappeared fast.

"Yes. Fire anyone you want." Kaiba sounded a odd, his voice a bit too high pitched, younger sounding, but since he just gave her permission to basically reorganize his executive staff, she didn't think too much about it. The possibilities spun out in her head and a neat list of things to do started taking form.

"Thanks, you." She grinned evilly up at the now worried looking man as she hung up the phone. "Guess what moron? You're fired."

Jonouchi and Kaiba

Jonouchi hung up the phone and shook his head. At least something nice happened today. Kaiba was probably kill him later for giving his secretary permission to fire his assistants, but then, maybe not. He sighed and looked back down at the phone replaying the phone call with Marik he'd just finished when Jame had called. That call had been far less pleasant. He still couldn't get the old feeling of raw terror out of his system when he heard Marik's voice. _Yami, when you get back, we gotta talk. Couldn't you have left...well, okay, maybe not Bakura... and Pegusus is a loony...well, how about Isis...except there is that whole manipulative bitch thing, and Shadi is pretty much out too. But come on Yami! Marik?_

Jonouchi walked down the hall and peered into the bedroom. The room looked peaceful enough. The suitcase still lay where it had fallen on the floor. The blue silk bedspread was slightly askew from where he had fallen against it. The only thing that had changed was that Kaiba now sprawled diagonally on the bed, one foot dangling nearly to the floor, his forearm covering his eyes. He stepped cautiously closer, not entirely sure what to expect. "Kaiba?"

The brunette lifted his arm and looked tiredly across at Jo. "What did he say?"

Jo shuffled uncomfortably, "Marik said, um...I'm quoting here...If the stupid priest can't deal with a little shadow attack. He deserves to get his mind eaten."

Kaiba snorted and let his arm fall back across his eyes. "He's right. I can't believe I let this get so bad." His voice was a bit hoarse and he looked pale. "It's obvious now that I know it's there."

Jonouchi watched as Kaiba suddenly tensed, his breath hissing between his clenched teeth, his head pressing back into the mattress. "Seto?" He climbed onto the bed, stretching out next to the rigid form of his love, sliding one arm under tensed shoulders the other sliding around his lover's waist. The spasm only lasted a few seconds, then taunt muscles relaxed again.

Kaiba took a deep breath and turned his face into Jonouchi's shoulder. "I'm sorry Jo. This should never have gotten this far. I should never have hit you."

Jonouchi pulled Kaiba closer, turning him and pulling him slightly till his love lay across his chest. He ran his hands through soft brown hair, lightly kissing him. "Hey, you weren't yourself." He stroked his hand down Kaiba's back, soothing stressed muscles. "Just glad I got here before you left."

Kaiba hummed softly back, nuzzling against Jonouchi's neck, his breath evening into the soothing pattern of sleep. Jo looked out the window frowning, someplace, someone was causing this and as soon as Kaiba woke up, that someone was going to be hunted down. Then it was going to be a race between him and his love to see who could kill the bastard first.

Someplace

He flung himself into his library, the door slamming violently against the mahogany wainscoting, as he stalked across the room and grabbed a crystal decanter of brandy. His hands shook in fury as he poured the amber liquid into a delicate snifter. He nearly pounded the bottle back down on the polished wood of the bar, leaving dents in the fine grained wood.

"Damn you Kaiba." He muttered, fingers tightening on the short goblet in his hand. "There was enough magic to mind control half the city into going on vacation and you shrug it off."

He ground his teeth together, picturing Kaiba sneering at him, laughing, taunting him with that insufferable smirk. His hands tightened more, shattering the fragile crystal, imbedding small shards of it into his hand. He paid no attention as the sweet alcohol and his own blood mixed, twining together in red and gold ribbons down his arm.

"You'll pay for this Kaiba. I'll crush you. I'll make you beg as I destroy everything you have ever loved. You will pay."

**Reviews please!**

I'll be taking ideas for things you hate most in bad fan fics. for a few more chapters. I probably won't write the companion to Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit till after I finish with Emergence, but the more ideas I get, the better... If you want to know, this time I'm going to be picking on Yami (as if I haven't tortured the poor darling enough) and I'm kicking around the idea of calling it "Just Kill Me".


	13. Revelations

Okay for all of you lost in the wilderness of plot twists, you can now take a brief sigh of relief. This story is plotted out for 20 chapters, so except for one more minor, almost insignificant little incident, all the plot twists are down and now it's up to the poor suffering characters to figure out what's going on and solve their problems. So take a deep breath and don't worry... after all the only thing left is so small, so tiny, it should only take up...five or six chapters....

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did I would have had Yami and Yugi loose that stupid uniform and what the heck was with that cape/school uniform mutation thingie that Yugi wore in Battle City? More leather, I say! How about a swirly cape for our lovely pharaoh, like the one he wore in Egypt! And how about a scene of Kaiba stepping out of a swimming pool?! Water polo. Yes, Kaiba takes up water polo! Okay, I'll be quiet now.

Emergence

Chapter 13: Revelations

Kaiba and Jonouchi

Kaiba stormed back into his office with a predatory glare and a snap of his trench coat with a slighter blond teen tagging grimly at his heels. The weekend staff scurried out of his way, darting back into the maze of halls, cubicles and storerooms that offered at least the illusion of shelter from the threatening storm. Many just bolted from the building, suddenly remembering appointments, missed lunch breaks and desperately needed supplies that needed their personal attention to acquire. By the time Kaiba had reached his office, the halls were eerily deserted. The only sound to be heard was the soft sound of his secretary humming to herself.

"When I find that bastard this, I am going to make him beg to die." Kaiba snarled as he nearly obliterated the door as he slammed his way into his office.

Jonouchi eyed the bent hinges in passing. _Nope, not me. I have no problems just killing the fucker. Fast, slow, doesn't matter to me. He messes with Kaiba. He's dead._

Kaiba threw himself down into his chair seething. "First I have to find Mr. Deadman." He tossed a small glittering coin onto his desk. "Then I'll make him pay. No one mind controls me."

"What's that?" Jonouchi walked over and reached his hand out to touch it.

"Don't."

Jo looked up, his hand pausing mid-motion. "What's up?" It didn't look very dangerous. it was just a coin, a bit old, tarnished, a little scuffed.

"Token." Kaiba glowered at it, "It's the focus for the spell. Mr. Deadman couldn't find me on his own, so he had someone plant a token on me." He nudged it with his finger as if it was a dead fish that had just landed on his desk. "Found it in my pocket."

"Are you sure?" Jonouchi stepped back, skirting around the desk till he stood next to his lover. "How did it get there?"

"I'm betting Duke." Kaiba leaned back into his leather chair, looking up at Jo. "I'm betting it was supposed to go into your pocket, then you would have dropped it in mine."

"I'm not following." Jo stepped back putting Kaiba between himself and the coin. "Why would I be handing you coins? Hell, I'd probably drop it in a game at the arcade and the spell would have possessed some middle age geezer tonight when they cleaned out the games."

"Not if they didn't give you a choice." Kaiba rocked back in his chair.

Jo put another couple steps between himself and the coin. "Ya mean, I was..." Jonouchi shook his head. "Nah-uh. No way. Been there, done that. I ain't no one's mind-slave. Not again."

Kaiba reached out and caught Jo's hand. "Don't worry. I won't..."

"Mr. Kaiba! Oh, thank goodness you're here!"

Jo sprang back startled as a rather indignant man rushed into the office, half expecting some evil, grinning loony to lunge for him. Instead, a rather soft looking, pathetic man came rushing into the office. His hair rumpled, his tie askew, with a desperate look in his eyes as he came to a stop in front of Kaiba's desk.

"That secretary of yours! She's... I was just talking to her and... Please, tell me I'm not fired! After all I've done! She took my computer!" The man's hands fluttered.

"Oh, forgot to tell you about that." Jo muttered as he stepped behind Kaiba.

"Tell me what?" Kaiba eyed the man as he whispered back.

"I sorta gave your secretary permission to fire your assistants." Jo refused to meet his eyes.

The man, heedless of the exchange was nearly hyperventilating as he spat out incoherent babble about secretaries, security guards, computer files and for some odd reason, a potted geranium. "Years of service and all I have to show for it is a wilted plant! She took my files. My backup files. All my work! I've been here since your father..."

Kaiba, still keeping an eye on the man, raised an eyebrow, whispering, "You told Jame to fire him?"

"Seemed like a good idea." Jo watched the man wipe nonexistent sweat off his brow with a neatly folded pocket handkerchief.

Kaiba straightened looking at the man. "Mikoki, you're dismissal stands."

"What! You're letting a secretary...!"

Kaiba's voice dripped menace. Jo squirmed just hearing it as he stood behind the brunette. He could imagine what it must be like on the other side of the desk as Mikoki turned pale and stumbled back. "Get out. I have more important things to handle than a idiot. Take your plant and if you're not out of this building in five minutes you'll be lucky to get a job cleaning floors at Hash Heaven."

Mikoki made a sound like a strangled chicken, blinked a couple of times, then fled.

Kaiba settled back in his chair, with a small icy grin. "One problem down, one deadman to go."

Yugi and Yuai

Yuai watched as Yugi raced wildly through the aisles of the convention looking for his friend Yami, with a small pack of confused security personnel in tow. So far he had checked every booth, accosted three convention attendees that had the bad taste to dress like him, and had now started looking under tables. The only improvement was that Yuai now could recognize Yugi's friend, if she ever saw him. He looked just like Yugi, except invisible and he apparently lived in the puzzle thing that Yugi wore on his neck.

She had made the mistake of asking if Yami was just taking a nap someplace in the puzzle, trying to bypass the whole problem of trying to find an invisible Yugi look-alike that lived in a puzzle, but that had only led to a fifteen minute episode of Yugi standing in the middle of the convention in a catatonic trance. When he finally woke up he tearfully threw himself at her, wailing that his Yami had left him, which then involved another fifteen minutes of trying to soothe Yugi, while assuring him that Yami had probably just stepped out for a few minutes, and would probably be right back.

The only good thing to come of all this is that during her search for the missing Yami, she had collected the cards that Kaiba had asked for. She had also come to the conclusion that men were odd, but she still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

She walked up another aisle, looking dutifully around, even poking under a table that had a large cloth covering, shrugging apologetically to the owner, "My friend is a...missing and we're looking for him.

The owner, a rather large, heavy woman with a solid column of flesh going straight from her chin right down to her chest, growled at her and shooed her away. "I've got better things to do than deal with you brats. Either buy something of get lost."

Yuai backed away and not seeing any Exodia cards on the chinless woman's table, got lost. She ambled farther up the aisle, skirting around a group of kids that had flapping trench coats, that she supposed was supposed to make them like her boss and a girl dressed in a rather gaudy red velvet smoking jacket, a white wig and a eye patch. As Yuai scampered over to check behind a display of life size cardboard cutouts of Yugi, Jonouchi and for some odd reason, a fat kid with glasses, she wondered who the girl was pretending to be._. I wish Yugi was feeling okay, he'd know. I hope the glomping fiend who rattled Yugi's brain burns in hell._

"Yuai!" Yugi skidded around the corner into her aisle, nearly decking the girl in the smoking jacket. "That guy over there," he pointed to a rather frayed looking hippie dude dressed in a rainbow tie-dyed tee shirt, "said that he'd give us a ride back home."

"Really!" _There is a god and he is kind. Thank you, thank you, thank you._ She smiled happily. "That's a great idea Yugi."

"Yeah! I heard him talking to his friends that he was going to leave in a couple minutes." He turned and waved at the dude. "Yami is probably home. If he got lost, he'd just go home. He probably is waiting there for me now."

"That's right, maybe the whole convention thing just got on his nerves and he caught a ride." Yuai scampered happily after Yugi as he walked back to the hippie dude.

"He's leaving right now." Yugi reached back and tugged her along, hurrying her up.

"Uh, okay." Yuai grinned as they came up to the guy. _Screw the luggage. Get Yugi home. Maybe, Kaiba can send the driver for the luggage later._

The guy smiled as they stopped. He was tall and thin with long blond hair and a rather poor attempt at a goatee. The sweet, musky scent of patchouli hung around him like his own personal cloud. "Hey, nice to meet and greet. I'm Peter, but you can call me Poncho."

Yugi bounced in place grinning wildly, "We're ready to go."

Yuai nodded, "Hi Poncho. Thanks for the ride."

"Not a prob. gotta get back and water my...uh...plants." Poncho rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and turned away. "Let's, ya know, blow outa here."

Yugi skipped at his side, watching him like he was the messiah, who had come to personally lead his lost sheep back to the fold. Yuai swung her bag of purchases around her wrist, feeling the weight of a long weekend dealing with a brain scrambled Yugi melt off, leaving behind the scent of patchouli.

Yami and Mahado

Mahado set a mug of tea down in front of Yami, "I've been trying to catch up with you."

"You knew I was here?" Yami sipped his tea, feeling warmth seep back into his frozen body.

His friend nodded as he set another mug of tea down across the table and sat down. "The shadows have been restless. When I came to look to see what was causing it, I found your trail."

Yami sighed, taking another sip and relaxing back into his chair, pulling the soft blanket closer to him with one hand. The chill that numbed his body and mind didn't seem to want to let go, despite the warm fire in the hearth, the steaming herbal tea and the thick fleecy cover Mahado had wrapped him in.

The cottage that Mahado had carried him to was set against the side of a mountain. He wasn't entirely sure, but the mountain looked different from the ones he'd been on that morning. For one thing it was now spring here and there were no trees, just soft green grass and clumps of heather. The air, instead of being crisp was soft, with the delicate scent of recently fallen rain.

The cottage itself was actually set into the hillside, half made of turf, with rocky walls, large multi-paned windows, and warm polished timber floors with a small hearth tucked into one wall. Shelves lined the walls, cluttered with odds and ends: polished stones, jars of dried herbs, odd bits of jewelry, something that looked like a very large snake's head, bits of machinery, and an assortment of knick-knacks that he honestly couldn't identify. They were sitting in a couple of thickly padded armchairs in front of the fire, with a small wood table between them. A pallet was tucked against the wall by the chimney and a small door leading to another room was on the opposite side.

"Somehow, Mahado, I never saw you as the British Isle type." Yami took another sip, motioning around the room with his cup.

Mahado laughed leaning back into his chair and stretching his feet out against the hearth step, "Somehow, my pharaoh, I never pictured you as the modern, Japanese city type."

A small smile worked it's way to Yami's lips. "I've missed you, my friend."

"I'm never far." The taller man set his cup on the table. "Every time you play that Duel Monster game, I'm there, looking through my double's eyes. Making sure you are doing well." He frowned, shaking his head. "That's how I knew you were here."

"What do you mean?" Yami shivered and sipped more tea as Mahado stood up and got a small tin box down from a shelf. "I haven't been playing Duel Monsters."

"No, but Yugi has." Mahado opened the box and placed it on the table as he sat back down. Small cookies, that looked suspiciously like baklava were nestled inside the box, wrapped in waxy paper. "You need to go back, and quickly."

"Why?" Yami took a cookie and nibbled on it, enjoying the sweet honey taste and the tang of walnuts.

"Your hikari is going insane." Mahado picked his cup back up and took a sip. "You are going insane. If you don't return to each other soon, there won't be anything of either of you worth returning to."

* * *

Okay, it's a short chapter. I'll get right on the next one to make it up to you. Happily my life is settling down a bit, so I'll have more time to write.

Review Please!

**Hikari Raine: **Thanks for the review. You'll just have to wait till Kaiba tracks the mystery man down till you find out who he is.

**NeKo: **Thank you. I love to know that people are reading my work. From the amount of reviews I get, I sometimes think no one is, it's nice to hear that someone is not only reading but likeing it too.


	14. Gone

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius

Emergence

Chapter 14: Gone

Yami and Mahado

Yami shivered, "I'm what?"

"Insane." Mahado took a cookie from the tin and sat back in his chair. "You and Yugi are two halves of the same soul." He nibbled a corner of his cookie and took a sip of his tea, stretching his feet out to the fire and settling back into his chair. "You, my pharaoh, are the dark half, the logical half, that plans and keeps things in order. Yugi is the light half, the emotional half, that provides balance and stability." He shrugged lightly, "Without you he looses his ability to think in a logical, coherent manner. Without him, your feelings start swinging wildly back and forth. Being separated for so long, both your minds are starting to deteriorate."

Yami shivered and stood up, "I need to get back..."

"But don't you want what you came for?" Mahado tipped his head to look up into Yami's eyes.

"Do you...?"

Mahado grinned and nodded, "I looked it up a few millennia ago, just in case I ever wanted to go back to that realm. It's really very simple."

Yami sat back down and picked his tea back up, feeling relief course through his mind. "Tell me."

Honda

"I can't believe you! How can you do this?!" Serenity shrieked over the phone.

Honda blinked at it cluelessly. Someplace in the back of his mind, a voice was saying '_Way to go moron'_, but the front of his mind was fuzzily confused. _I had to tell her. Isn't honesty the best policy?_ He made a soothing sound, "Serenity, I love you. I just don't want to date you any more. I like Ribbon."

"Ribbon! You ass! I find out you've been hurt and when I call you tell me your seeing another girl?!" Serenity's voice could be clearly heard on the other side of the room, making Anzu and Mai wince.

"I wanted to be honest with you..."

"Honest! When has honesty been important to you?" Serenity's voice dropped a decimal or two, as she growled. "You lying piece of shit!"

"Babe, don't be so angry. I honestly do love you. I just want to date someone who doesn't fuck a different guy every week." Honda's inner voice tried to smack him on the head and only succeeded in making him fumble the phone as Serenity made a incoherent shriek of rage.

"I can't believe you. Your fucking some little ho and your making me sound like a fucking street walker."

Honda scratched his head, "I didn't say that. I just said you fuck a different guy every week. You don't think I'm going to marry someone like that do you?"

"Marry! Who said anything about getting married! I'm going to..." Serenity trailed off in a series of snarls. "You bastard, you were the worst fuck I ever had. Your pathetic."

Honda's inner self squirmed, and even his outer self was now starting to feel the first tinge of anger. "Look babe, you act like a ho, you sound like a ho, just go out and get the right clothes so you look like one too. Truth in advertising."

"I'll kill you! How dare you say that." Serenity gasped.

"Truth hurt? What do you think people are saying about you babe? Even your brother knows that you're a bed hopping slut." Honda could hear the words hit as she hissed in her breath.

"Shut the fuck up you fucking asshole. I hope you and your little slut are happy together burning in hell." Serenity slammed the phone down, cutting the connection.

Honda blinked owlishly at the receiver. "Oh, well, that didn't go too bad."

"I'd hate to see a bad one then." Mai stood up and took the receiver form Honda, setting it back in it's cradle.

"Oh, bad ones with her usually end up with me getting hit, maybe a few bruises, and," he looked thoughtful for a second, "something like this, I'd probably end up bleeding."

Anzu looked worried, "Is she really doing that Honda?"

Honda sat back in the recliner next to the phone and nodded, "Yeah, she got it from her mom."

"Oh, poor Jo." Anzu shook her head, "Was that why his parents broke up."

Honda's inner self tried desperately to shut his mouth, but once again medicine and stupidity won the day. "Yep. She apparently was sleeping around the whole time. Jo's not even his dad's real kid. She was fucking some gaigin and Jo was the bonus."

Mai leaned forward from where she was perched against the phone table. "Honda, shut up."

"Huh?"

"Shut up, and do it now." Mai thwaped him on the head. "You're babbling things you shouldn't babble." She walked over to where Anzu was sitting with her mouth hanging open. "We're going to pretend you didn't say that and leave before we hear anything else we'll have to pretend not to hear."

"Hey, don't go!" Honda whined struggling out of the chair, while his inner voice cheered madly.

Mai shoved him back. "Sit boy. Maybe get some sleep. We'll call you later to see how you're doing."

"But..." Honda tried again to stand up, only to be pushed back.

Mai walked out the door, tugging Anzu after her. "Later.:

Anzu managed a wave as the door slammed behind her, "I'll call when I get home."

Honda's inner voice sighed, _I'm really going to hate myself in the tomorrow._

Bakura and Ryou

Usually, the walking down the hall was a rather boring activity. A few steps, maybe glance at some of the pictures of his family that hung on the wall, maybe notice a spot on the carpet that he'd have to get around to cleaning later. In all, rather a dull thing to do. Unfortunately, that was before Ryou's yami had stayed up two days straight swilling espresso while bent over a computer and perched on a ergonomically correct chair. Now, Ryou was finding that just standing up straight was beyond his powers, walking was an exercise of miracles, each step seemingly an act of god. Walking down the hall was akin to a trip up the side of Mt. Everest on a pogo stick.

"Just a couple more steps..." Ryou gasped as he creaked his way past a picture of his sister smiling and happily waving. He wobbled and leaned against the wall for a second, before taking a deep breath and continuing on his trek.

Bakura was sleeping. At least, Ryou guessed he was. His yami had yawningly stumbled down the hall between their soul rooms and had disappeared into his own dark side, closing the door behind him. Ryou felt a bit bad about that, he had been curious to see if his yami had found anything new. Now, if he truly wanted to know, he'd have to brave the darkness of his other's domain.

"First things, first." Ryou pushed himself off the wall, using the momentum to propel himself into the door of his room and stumble to his bed, where he collapsed into an aching heap. "I think it would be easier if he just beat me next time."

_I heard that you know._

"Yami!" Ryou closed his eyes, willing himself to stand in front of his darkness in their soul corridor.

Bakura stood in the door of his room, leaning on the frame. His wild hair in damp limp tangles around his shoulders and his eyes heavy with long delayed sleep. "You should be careful what you wish for, hikari."

"Did you find anything." Ryou ignored his dark's teasing, instead slipping close to him, snuggling against his side and letting his tired other rest against him. Now, that he didn't have to deal with the body, he was feeling better than his yami looked.

Bakura grumbled, tugging Ryou backwards into his room. "Yeah, I found something."

"Really, what?" Ryou stumbled as he found himself standing in soft warm sand. One of the problems with his yami's room, was that it seemed to change periodically. Just when he'd get used to it being one way, it'd change into something else. Today, it was sand, soft warm wind and thick blanketing darkness..

Bakura didn't answer. He just kept walking, leaning slightly against his light's shoulder and trudging through the sand with his head down, looking intently at the nearly invisible ground.

"Yami?"

"What?" Bakura grumbled, steering his light along slightly.

"What did you find out?" Ryou tried to stop, but Bakura caught his hand and pulled him along. A soft gold light seemed to be glowing faintly in the distance and they seemed to be heading for it.

"Singing." Bakura grumped.

"Excuse me?"

Yami

"...the Song of Orpheus?" Yami set his tea cup down. "I came all this way to find out I have to...

Marik

Marik blinked down at the book in his lap. "I have to sing a song? That's it? I have to croon some silly ditty?"

Bakura and Ryou

"I'm doomed. Ra hates me." Bakura shook his head, drooping against his light. "There is just no fucking way I am singing some idiot tune."

Ryou found himself standing outside some kind of tent. A delicate dancing light flickered from within. "But that's wonderful!"

Bakura stepped away from him and pulled open the flap to the tent, waving Ryou to go in. "It is not wonderful. It's horrendous."

"But if all you have to do is sing..." Ryou stepped inside, finding himself standing on a soft woven carpet. A small brazier sat in the middle of the tent, it's fire casting warm light across the scattering of pillows and cushions that clustered in the tent's corners. A small trunk was tucked against one wall, which Bakura sat on.

"There's only one problem." Bakura slumped. "I can't sing."

"Oh, it's not that bad. It's not like you have to go on stage and perform." Ryou sat down next to his dark. "You don't have to sing it well do you?"

Bakura sighed shaking his head. "Do the words tone deaf mean anything to you?"

Kaiba and Jonouchi

Kaiba sat glowering out his window at Domino City's skyline. As he watched, the first fat rain drops of a storm hit the windows with soft splats. Soon the tempo started picking up till no one single drop could be identified. Lightning flashed eerily across the sky and a second later thunder boomed after it. Jonouchi, asleep on the bed behind him, rustled uneasily before once again settling into deep sleep.

"Who the hell are you?" He looked over to where the token sat on his desk, now wrapped in a silk handkerchief and surrounded by a protective circle. He smiled to himself. He'd go to his grave before giving the pharaoh the satisfaction of knowing he believed in magic, but he could still drag some impressive things out of his memory when he needed to. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd done, what the mechanics of the whole process were, but deep inside, he was confident that the token wouldn't be bothering him anymore. Now, if he could just dig up something that would lead him to his mystery attacker.

Another flash of lighting and a quick boom of thunder caused Jo to shift, muttering in his sleep. Kaiba glanced over with a smile that quickly disappeared. More than anything else, it was that the attack was at least partially aimed at Jo, that infuriated Kaiba. He could take care of himself, tucked in his mind and soul was a well trained and powerful sorcerer. But Jo? Jo, who had already had his mind and soul violated by that wacko Marik? Jo, who's only protection was a thick skull and unswerving loyalty to his friends? No. Whoever tried to drag Jo into some sick shadow game, was going to pay.

He'd spent the entire day running down every lead he could find and had ended up nowhere. Kado, his head of security, was even now searching, trying to trace where Duke had been, in the hopes of finding his attacker. He'd even pulled Jame away from cooing happily over his recently departed assistant's files and computer disks, to try to track down who would benefit most from his absence. There had to be some reason why they had wanted him out of town and up at that convention.

He stepped away from the window and walked over to the bed, looking down at the slender blond that lay curled on his side. A slight bruise could be seen, even in the dim light of the room, shadowing Jo's cheek. A inch long scrape trailed across one edge of it. Kaiba reached out and carefully touched the mark. _How dare they drag him into this._

Jonouchi's eyes fluttered open, "Se'o?"

"Go back to sleep." Kaiba stepped back, only to find himself caught by one of Jo's hands wrapped around his wrist.

"You too."

"In just a minute, I want to call and see if Yuai is alright." Kaiba stroked his lover's soft pale hair. "Sleep love. I'll be right back."

Jo's eyes were already closing. "Okay, but jus' a min't."

Kaiba quietly padded away, scooping up the phone on his way out to the hall. He closed the door behind him, making sure not to disturb Jo and dialed the hotel number.

BEEP

"I'm sorry all lines are down. Please try again later."

Kaiba frowned at the phone, hung up and dialed again.

BEEP

"I'm sorry..."

He hung up and stood frowning at the phone. _How very interesting. The very place you were about to take an unplanned vacation to, has phone problems. _He silently walked back into the room and replaced the phone. He shrugged out of his robe and slid into bed next to Jonouchi, who promptly curled against him. _Just how far does this go? And why does it go there?_

Honda

The morning was dreary, the world was a soggy mess and rain still splashed down into huge puddles that lurked on every sidewalk, lawn and road. Small rivers swarmed down the sides of streets, rushing into storm drains in a seemingly never ending flow of brown. Honda, looked out the window at the depressing weather and thumped back onto his bed.

_Oh man. Did I ever fuck everything up yesterday. The only good thing that happened was the Ribbon went home before I developed verbal diarrhea. Oh man, oh man. Jo is going to kill me if he ever finds out what I babbled._

The phone at his bedside rang. He looked dully at the phone remembering his little chat with Serenity. _Yep, defiantly dead meat._ The phone rang again and he reached for it.

"Hello, Morons R Us, this is Honda, the head moron. How can I fuck you up?" Honda muttered into the phone.

"Feelin' better?" Jonouchi's voice was annoyingly chipper for such a nasty day.

"Just come over and kill me, okay. It'll save you time later." Honda thumped back onto the bed beaning himself with his own cast as he tried to cover his eyes.

"Sure, but first, is Yugi over with you?" Jonouchi's voice sounded just a bit tense.

"Uh, no. He's at the convention. Remember?" Honda rubbed his suddenly sore nose, looking at the ceiling.

"Yugi's grandpa's been trying to call up there since yesterday. The phones have been down and he just go through. They said Yugi and Yuai left yesterday afternoon. Security said they caught a ride with some hippie dude in a van." Jo defiantly sounded worried now.

Honda sat up, "Isn't he at his grandpa's then?"

"Nope, he never showed and Yuai hasn't showed either."

"Look, they probably had car problems or something." Honda dragged himself to his feet and started looking around his room for a rain jacket. "I'll head over to Yugi's place and see what's up. Why don't you call the girls and if Yugi isn't home, we'll go look for him."

"Yeah, okay. But Honda, be careful, really, really careful. Freaky things are happening right now."

"Not a problem." Honda found his jacket and was trying to get it on one handed, with a cast. "I'll call you in a few."

**Reviews are always loved and cherished, every single one, so if you want to be loved and cherished, Review!**

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**just me: **Happy to make you happy! You're very welcome.

**The Panasonic Princess: **I missed the Yuki one. I really didn't think about how similar the names were till I was well into the story. It's cutsie, but I decided I could live with it. Thanks for the review. It's always nice to hear that someone likes your work.


	15. Hunting

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Emergence

Chapter 15: Hunting

Yugi and Yuai

"I never thought I'd actually be thankful for all the things my parents put me through." Yuai muttered into her gag, finally managing to slip the knot that bound her wrists together over her knuckles and wiggle out of the rope. _Ammeters, Dad could have shown them a thing or two about tying someone up._ She shifted around, pulling her feet up so that she could reach the rope that bound her ankles.

Yugi whimpered as she accidentally kneed him in the back. Yuai cooed softly and wiggled a bit more and finally loosened the knot around her feet, then yanked the gag out of her mouth and the blindfold off her eyes.

The trunk of the car that they had been shoved into, by the gun totting hooded men who now drove the car, was hot, crowded, dark and, Yuai admitted, scary as hell. Still, she supposed, it could have been worse. It could have been a older car, it could have been one made before they created those lovely trunk release thingies that let you pop the trunk from inside. She looked at the glowing handle of the emergency trunk release and nearly shook her head in despair. _Well, better to get kidnapped by incompetents if you gotta get kidnapped._

She tugged Yugi's hands closer and started working on the knot. He whimpered again and shivered. Yuai felt something slick and oddly sticky on his hands. "It's okay Yugi, it's just me." She worked frantically at the knots, then once she had slipped them off, pulled off Yugi's gag. He carefully pulled his blindfold off, carefully cradling on hand against his chest.

"The puzzle, the puzzle. It got broke. We've gotta get it back together!" Yugi gasped.

"Yugi! Later, okay. Let's get out of here first. Then we'll play with the puzzle." Yuai yanked the now loosened ropes away from Yugi's feet, as Yugi searched around the trunk, scooping up small jagged pieces of the puzzle with one hand.

"No, no. We have to get the puzzle together." Yugi kept searching his voice catching on sobs. "I need Yami. Please. I can't leave without him. I need my yami."

Yuai snagged a few pieces and tucked them in her pockets, "How many pieces are there?" she whispered, "I have five."  
Yugi shivered, "I think I have the rest. One sec."

The car hit a massive bump, throwing them both up against the trunk hood then slamming them back down to the floor. Yugi moaned, curling into a ball around his hand, "I dropped some."

They both patted around the trunk. The car was passing over some very rough road, thumping them around as they searched.

"Okay, that's it." Yugi shoved the pieces into his pocket. "That's all."

"Then let's get out of here." Yuai reached for the lever. The car wasn't traveling very fast on the bumpy, rough road. The car hit another pot hole, just as Yuai grabbed the lever and yanked. The trunk popped open revealing a heavily forested area and a muddy dirt road. The car slowed even more as it took a sharp turn on what was apparently a hair pin corner and Yuai leapt out with Yugi landing in a puddle beside her a second behind her. They both darted as fast as their numb, bruised bodies would allow into the thick bushes that crowded the side of the road.

Jame

Jame blinked at the computer screen. "What the hell...?" She checked her password again and frowned at the computer screen. "What do you mean access denied. Those are my files!" She typed frantically for a second, then snarled at the computer. "I'll show you... Those are my files, you can't tell me I'm not allowed to see them!" She reached for her cell phone and hit the number three, growling threats.

"'ello?" a sleep blurred voice muttered from the other side of the world.

"Tink? My computer told me I can't get to my files...HELP!"

"Jame, do ya know wha time i' is?" Tink grumbled.

"Life's tough. I need those files! I put all my latest work in there, including the drafts I was going to send Drover." Jame glared accusingly at the screen.

"Shit." Tink sounded awake now. "Didn't you save them to disk?"

"I didn't get a chance. Kaiba's got a stick shoved up his ass about something. He barged in here tossing around orders and I haven't been able to get into the computer since." Jame swung in her chair, frowning out the window at the dismal gray clouds.

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute. It's been awhile since I hacked Kaiba Corp." He yawned. In the background Jame could hear keys tapping and the squeak of Tink's old computer chair. She could picture him seated there, scrunched under his over flowing desk, the computer screen glowing, casting light across the tumbles of papers and books that made up Tink's bedroom. She sighed, feeling a wave of homesickness wash over her. _Oh Tink, I've missed you and Drover too. I haven't had anyone to mess up my palm pilot for ages and Pease, you should see some of the clothes they have here in Domino. You'd love my boss and his trench coat collection._

"Uh, Jame?" Tink's voice came to her sooner than she expected, snapping her back to reality.

"Yeah." She turned back to her computer, hoping Tink had worked some kind of magic, but the computer still glared evilly back displaying Access Denied.

"I think you better call your boss. Someone's just ripped open his security and is hacking all his files."

Jame grabbed the other phone, still talking to Tink. "Can't you stop it?" She dialed Kaiba's home number.

"Not a chance, babe. I'm on a land line half the world away on an Dell. I'd need direct access to the system, and a better computer, even then I'm not sure."

Kaiba's number rang three times before the answering machine picked up. She slammed her phone down and redialed his cell.

"I'm sorry this number is not available. Please check your number and try again." A woman's soft sing-song voice chimed pleasantly at the other end.

Jame snarled at the phone and leaned back. "Tink. I'm going to have to call you back. I don't suppose you can...?"

"Hey, I'll see what I can do, but remember. I got a Dell." Tink yawned again, "Look, see if you can hunt up your boss man. I'll do a little poking and see what I can find."

"You're the best Tink." she made smoochie noises at him over the phone.

"Yick. Stop that!" Tink growled hanging up.

Jame put her cell down and dialed security. The phone rang, and rang and rang and rang. Jame snarled at it and stood up. "Kaiba, I am so going to hurt your rich boy ass if I have to go out in this weather to find you....

Kaiba and Jonouchi

Kame Game Shop was once again ground zero. Kaiba stood under the awning, looking up at the friendly looking little store, wondering if there was some kind of karmic black hole underneath it. Jonouchi stood at his side, looking around the street. Honda's bike was parked at the curb, and if he wasn't mistaken, Mai's little convertible was across the street, sheltering between two buildings, under an overhang. Rain still splashed downwards in gusting sheets of freezing water.

Jo knocked, peering into the windows of the door. "Man, I hope Yug and Yuai are in there. Maybe they just got caught in the mud?" He sounded more hopeful then believing.

Kaiba, still contemplating black holes, looked over at him pityingly. "Jo, this is Yugi Moto we're discussing. He's probably been possessed by aliens and is now trying to save the world from a ten thousand year old fluffy haired, loony with a millennium toothpick." Kaiba looked around. "Probably someplace by the sea. He has a habit of getting into trouble near large bodies of water."

"Are you feeling okay there Kaiba?" Jo looked over at him, frowning worriedly at the light, nearly flippant tone of his lover's voice.

Kaiba shook his head lightly, as if clearing it. "Hmmm. I'll be fine."

"Okay, but if you have a sudden need to travel. Let me know. 'kay?" Jo knocked again, then waved as Honda could be seen hopping down the stairs from the apartment above the shop.

Honda wasn't smiling as he opened the door. "Hey guys. Come on in."

"Is he here?" Jonouchi looked around hopefully as he stepped inside and started pulling off his coat.

"No." Honda waved to where a chair, half covered in dripping coats sat by the door. "His grandpa went down to the police station to see if he could get them to look for him."

Jonouchi and Kaiba dropped their coats onto the pile and followed Honda up the stairs. Mai was sitting at the kitchen table, holding the phone to her. She smiled slightly as they stepped in and waved towards the counter where a coffee pot steamed gently with a can of instant coco next to it. Anzu's voice could be heard talking from the living room.

Honda slumped into one of the kitchen chairs. Jo dropped into another as Kaiba leaned over to look at what Mai was scribbling on a sheet of paper. Kaiba sat down next to her and started scribbling notes back. In a second, Mai started talking to someone on the other end of the phone.

"Anyone know where they are?" Jo tried to follow what Mai and Kaiba were doing, then gave up as they stated talking about longitude and latitude and signal strengths.

"Nope. No one's got a clue." Honda picked up a cup off the table and sipped it. "So far Yugi, Yuai, hippie guy and hippie guy's van have all disappeared."

From the living room Anzu yelled, "I don't care that the phones have been down. That's no excuse!"

Honda nodded toward her irate voice. "She's talking to the hotel. Apparently, Yugi was feeling sick. That's why they were coming home early."

"Man, ya think we should call the hospitals?" Jo looked around, only to have Mai shake her head no.

"Grandpa already did that before he called you." Honda stood up and refilled his coffee adding generous heaps of coco to it. "Want some?"

Jo nodded and looking over at Kaiba held up two fingers. Honda nodded and poured the coffee. He added coco to Jo's and then looked questioningly at Kaiba, who shook his head no and went back to scribbling notes to Mai. Honda shrugged and passed out the coffee, putting a bowl of sugar down on the table.

"Anyone contact Ryou or Malik? Maybe their yamis could talk to Yami Yugi and see what's up." Jo sipped his coffee and started stirring it more completely.

"Ryou doesn't answer and Malik just said that his yami's not speaking right now." Honda slumped into his chair. "Anyone here want to go over there and demand that Marik talk to us?"

Jo shook his head and took another sip of his coffee. "Okay, so the yamis are out."

Kaiba threw a piece of wadded up paper at Jonouchi, beaning him in the head. "Hey!" Jo unwadded the paper as Kaiba huddled again with Mai, now whispering softly about satellites and tower stations as she scribbled a long series of numbers onto a scrap of paper.

_Why don't you go look for him?_

Jo blinked at the paper, then looked up at Kaiba.

Honda leaned over and read the note. "Yeah! We could be doing that while they do the phone thing." He grabbed his bike keys, heading for the door.

"Wait a sec I ain't getting on that bike in this rain with a guy with a broken arm." Jo stood and hauled Honda back into the room.

Anzu, stomping into the kitchen with a murderous look on her face, nodded. "He's right. We can't all go on your bike anyways."

"What's up with the hotel?" Honda scowled and shoved his keys back into his pocket.

"They keep saying that 'they aren't responsible if their guests leave the premises with other people.' What they aren't saying is that Yugi was sick and they refused to give him or Yuai a ride down to a doctor, so the only way they could get to one was to hitch a ride." She shook her hair back from her face. "I swear if anything has happened to Yugi...I'm...I'm...."

Jo nodded, "Okay, got the idea." He sat back down till a set of keys bonked him in the head. He turned growling at his lover who frowned back, nodding at the keys.

"Hey, thanks Kaiba." Anzu scooped up the keys and headed for the door. "Anyone else coming?"

Honda grinned and swung towards the door, "Me."

Jo rubbed his head, "Okay, me," He frowned at Kaiba, then smiled as the brunette shrugged, "Next time don't aim for my head."

Kaiba snitched the phone from Mai and nodded toward the door. She stood up, "I guess that's my cue to be den mother." She fluffed her hair back over her shoulder and sauntered out the door. "Come on campers. Time to hit the trail. if your all good little boys and girls we can have a weenie roast later."

Jo and Honda skittered to a halt looking unsure. Honda muttered, "I hope she's talking about hot dogs."

Yugi and Yuai

Yugi and Yuai scampered through the trees, dodged around rocks and scrambled down slopping hillsides covered in slick wet leaves. Their clothes were now plastered to their bodies and both, despite their unwanted athletics, were shivering.

"We gotta stop. We gotta put the puzzle together." Yugi panted as he fell on his bottom and slid down to the bottom of a gully.

"Later. I promise, but let's get away from the road first." Yuai hopped down the gully half way, then tripped, sprawling next to Yugi in the muck.

"We need Yami." Yugi pulled himself to his feet and started clawing his way up the other side.

"Okay, okay. But we need to get away from the road. Then we'll have time to put it together." Yuai scrambled up after him.

They both raced deeper into the woods.

Jame

Jame stood outside of the security office and gave the door a half hearted kick. "Damn fine time to have lunch." She poked the little blue sign with a friendly clock on it that indicated that the security staff would be back in a half hour. _Remember, do something about weekend staffing in security._ She turned away and tramped back to her office.

It really was all those assistant's fault. After raiding Mikoko's files she'd found enough to get maintenance to confiscate the other assistant's files and computers. Kaiba's assistants had been waging a sneaky battle to destroy Kaiba Corp through sheer incompetency. Derailing Kaiba's secretaries had been only a part of the plan. They had shifted budgets, cut personnel, slashed work hours of vital staff, reorganized, shuffled, downsized and corrupted most of the upper management, till everything was in shambles. Unfortunately for them, Tink had sat down one day while they were all stuck in a hotel in Berlin and showed her how to hack computer files. She wasn't as good as her friend, but she was good enough to piece together what that backstabbing group of leaches was up to. _No wonder Kaiba looks so worn out half the time. He's literally running Kaiba Corp by himself._

She pushed her door open and settled down at her desk. "Okay, if I was Kaiba, where would I be?" She pulled out her phone and Rolodex and started hunting.

Jonouchi, Honda, Mai and Anzu

Anzu whacked Jonouchi and shoved him out of the way. "There is no way you are driving."

"Hey, it's Kaiba's car." Jo tried to dodge around her and grab the keys from her hand.

"And I'm sure Kaiba wants it back in one solid undented piece." She elbowed him in the ribs and shoved him aside with her hip as she unlocked the drivers door.

"Are you saying I can't drive?" Jo jumped back as she tried to hit him with the car door.

"No. I am sure that someplace, somewhere, someone would call what you do driving." Anzu hopped into the drivers seat and quickly shut the door. "Now, get in or I'll leave you."

Mai had already walked around to the passenger's side and gracefully sunk into the soft upholstery. "Come on kiddies. Times a wasting. You don't want to miss out on the roasted marshmallows, do you."

Honda thumped into the back seat. "Come on Jo. Get in already."

Jo pried open the back door of the small sports car and squished himself into the microscopic space that was truly never meant for human beings. "I hate this."

Anzu, grinning evilly into the mirror chirped, "Time to go!" and Jonouchi was flung back as she quickly accelerated out into traffic.

"Hey! Watch it. And you're complaining about me."

"Poor little Jo-jo. All misunderstood."

"Ow. Stop stepping on my feet."

"Do I have to put you on a time out?"

"Who had garlic for breakfast. Man, here's some gum."

"Get off my hand. I'm going to need that later."

"Which turn is it? I can't remember."

"Uh, what the hell is this? I just found it between the seats."

"Did anyone think to bring some of that coffee."

"No, but man do I have to go pee."

Yugi and Yuai

Yuai held Yugi's hand, carefully feeling along the small fragile bones. It looked like a mess. When the thugs in the masks had pulled the van over and dragged them out, the largest on had smashed Yugi's hand with his rifle. Yuai shivered, remembering the men dragging Poncho over to the side of the van and the shot that followed quickly after. The man had walked back around only a couple seconds later, without their hippie friend. "I think it's only bruised. But that cut is kind of nasty."

Yugi shivered, pressing back farther against the bush they were hiding under. "We gotta put the puzzle together. Yami can get us out of here."

Yuai smiled, still carefully holding Yugi's hand. _It must be nice. Having someone to trust like that. Even if it is your imaginary friend._

Yugi pulled out all the puzzle pieces that he had and set them on his lap, then pulled the chain over his head with it's solitary golden piece handing forlornly from it. Yuai let go of his hand and watched as piece by piece he reassembled the puzzle. She leaned back, against the trunk of the bush and watched. It looked difficult, but Yugi seemed to be amazingly good at putting it together.

"D-damn." Yugi bit his lip, trying to make the puzzle turn to fit in a piece, but his hurt fingers wouldn't grip the puzzle tight enough to manage the maneuver.

"What's wrong?" Yuai leaned closer.

"Can you hold this and turn it to the right while I slid this piece in?" Yugi shifted closer to Yuai.

She carefully did as he asked and the small gold piece snapped into place.

"Okay, now turn it back a quarter of the way and then this piece goes in right..." click "there. Now, push up on that piece and this piece will..." snap "Then this piece is right here and then the cap is like this and if you turn it ..." click.

Yugi smiled as the puzzle gleamed in their hands. Yuai smiled back. _Okay. Now that the puzzles together let's get..._

"Aibou! What's going on. What happened?" Yami stood looking around the woods shocked.

"Yami!" Yugi wiggled out from under the bush. "Yami! Where have you been?" Yugi was crying, his hands reaching out for his darkness.

Yuai sat stunned under the bush staring at the scarlet eyed, transparent version of her boyfriend. "Oh my god. He looks just like Yugi. But he's invisible," she whispered.

* * *

Review please!

**markyc58**: Happy to have another satisfied reader. You've come at a good time. Things are just getting more and more interesting.

**Clarity**: Nice to hear from you. I've been over at MM. org for a bit and have had a blast there. I'm still kind of new over here, so it's great to hear from everyone. blushes Wow! Thanks!

**Nike**: Okay. I'm keeping it up. Thank you for saying hi!

**Hikari Raine**: I love Seto/Jou fics too, but I admitt, I like Yami/Seto pairings as well. Happily, in the land of fanficion I can have both. More Jame fun and adventure coming up!

**markyc58**: Wow! Twice! Thank you! You'll just have to wait in suspense about Mr. Mystery guy, I'm not entirely sure if I want to give him up yet or do it in the next part of the arch. Anyway, thanks again!


	16. Rain and Shadows

The Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I am just playing with it a bit for entertainment. I don't get anything out of this. Nope, nada, nothing.

Author's Notes: Eeek, bad author, bad author. I thought I posted this Friday and here it still sits un-posted. Sorry about that. Blond moment...

Emergence

Chapter 16: Rain and Shadows

Yami and Yugi

Sobbing, Yugi raced to the corridor between his soul room and his yami's and flung himself hysterically into his dark's arms. "Yami, you're here, you're here, you're here."

Yami caught his light mid-leap and clutched the smaller one tightly to him. "Oh Ra, how I have missed you." He buried his face in Yugi's soft colorful hair, breathing in his light's sweet, fresh scent. "I promise Yugi, I will never leave you again for so long."

Yugi nodded, his wet face pressed against Yami's throat, his arms wrapped desperately tight around his other. "I was so scared. I couldn't find you. The men came and I broke the puzzle and I couldn't ..." Yugi shivered, trying to burrow farther into his yami's arms. "I want to go home."

Yami snuggled closer, "Then we will go home." He kissed his light and pushed him toward his soul room. "Go sleep, little light, I will deal with these men."

Yugi clung, "No! Please don't leave." Yugi wrapped his arms around his darkness, refusing to let go. "We can face him together. Right? Please? Please don't leave me." More tears gathered at the edge of his eyes.

Yami smiled, bending to kiss the tears away before they fell, "Alright. Together."

Yugi opened his eyes and looked around the drippy forest. Rain still drizzled down between the leaves, occasionally gathering into large drops that plashed soggily onto already waterlogged leaves. Early spring vegetation drooped, battered down by too much water, leaves glistened and a small wind scuttled around the trunks sending random sprays of water across the gloomy landscape.

_Yami? Where is Yuai?_ Yugi looked under the bush that they had been hiding under. Yuai was notably not there.

Yugi straightened looking around the forest, not seeing anything. Yami sighed, _I am not sure aibou. She was with you under that bush, correct?_

Yugi crawled under the bush, nodding his head. _Yeah. We were hiding. We didn't know if the guys in the car followed us or not._

Yami peeked into Yugi's recent memory and snarled. _They threw you into a trunk! Aibou, your hand! Are you alright?_

Yugi looked down at his hand. _It feels kind of numb. But where is Yuai? Do you think they..._

_They would have grabbed you too._ Yami noticed some of the leaves were disturbed leading out the opposite side of the bush. _I think she went that way._

Yugi scrambled out from under the bush, heading in the direction Yuai went. _Why did she run away, Yami?_ He followed the path of disturbed leaves heading off deeper into the forest.

_I don't know aibou. Something must have scared her._ Yami caught a glimpse of something moving off to the right, just before a shot rang out and the tree trunk just in front of them exploded into a shower of chips.

Yugi flung himself down onto the ground and slithered behind a tree. _They found us!_

Yami shrugged. _Good. Now I won't have to hunt them down. It's always so much handier if your prey comes to you._

The Rescue Party

Jonouchi fell out of the car onto the curb of the hotel wondering if he would ever be able to get feeling back into his legs. His only consolation was that Honda was presently in worse shape as the brunette tried to pry himself out of the opposite side of the car. Of course there was Anzu and Mai, who slipped out of the car and leisurely stretched as they looked around at the hotel's elegant, if now somewhat soaked, landscape.

"This is really a nice place." Anzu smiled as a doorman hurried forward holding a umbrella. She stepped over Jonouchi's sprawled form and linked her arm with Mai, then placidly walked up the path to the hotel, careful to keep under the shelter of the umbrella.

Honda moaned and managed to finally yank himself out of the back of the car. "Oh Kami, I think my dicks gonna fall off." He rolled out onto the pavement then sprang to his feet, hobbling as quickly as he could for the front door, shoving past the girls. "Outta my way! Kami, please let there be a bathroom in the lobby."

Jo moaned as suddenly feeling decided to return. Unfortunately, the feeling his legs chose was pain. He curled onto his side, feeling cramps shoot up through his calves and thighs. "Hey, uh girls..." He managed to wave a hand towards where Mai and Anzu strolled up the walkway under the benevolent protection of the umbrella wielding doorman. "Girls, uh a little help?"

Mai waved back, "Don't worry Jo, we'll save you a nice cup of cocoa when you get in."

Anzu smiled, "We'll get going on finding Yugi, you just take your time and come in when you want."

They waved merrily goodbye as the doorman opened the front door and ushered them inside, disappearing after them, the golden oak door swishing gracefully closed after them. Jo moaned and flopped back to the wet cement. _Kaiba, when I get home, we're gonna have a little talk about cars. Couldn't you get at least one with a decent back seat? hmmm? How about a nice SUV or somethin'? PT Cruisers look pretty cool. How about one of them?_ He painfully stretched one leg into something resembling it's usual shape. Rain splashed down on him, patting him gently on the face. _Or how 'bout a nice Hummer? Wouldn't a Hummer work for ya?_ He groaned as he pressed his other leg down into a semi-straight position.

By the time he managed to finally stagger through the front door, he was drenched. His blond hair hung in limp brown tendrils down his face and his shirt was plastered wetly to his back as he squelchily hobbled into the lobby. He growled at the pretty artwork, snarled at the potted plant and glared at the cheerful fire that was presently snapping and hissing to itself in a immense floor to ceiling fireplace. He wobbled up to the desk and dripped on the counter as a weasel faced man in a neatly pressed suit pursed his lips disapprovingly together and bustled over to him.

"How can I help you?" The little weasel's lips were so stiff and thin Jo wondered how he managed to talk.

"A group of my friends just came in. We're looking for Yugi Moto and Yuai Tasuke." Jo shivered as the wet fabric of his shirt started cooling.

"Oh." The weasel looked down his nose disapprovingly. "Your friends went to talk to the head of our security personnel." He waved toward a small discreet door with a tiny brass plate reading Security on it and promptly disappeared as fast as he could into a small door leading to what looked like an office.

Jo soggily tottered over to the door and pushed it open, revealing all his friends huddled around a small carafe of coffee in a tiny waiting room, chatting. "Thanks guys. Yur sympathy is overwhelming me here."

Mai cooed, "Poor Jo, want some cocoa?" She waved a steaming mug at him.

Jo shivered and grabbed the cup and shuffled painfully toward a chair and let his body fall into it. "Thanks, got some pain killers there too?"

Mai shook her head as she came up behind Jo and wrapped him in a hug that nearly smothered him in cleavage. "No schnookums, there isn't any painkillers. Why don't you tell Mai where it hurts, hmmm?" She snuggled closer, threatening Jonouchi's air supply. "Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

"Hey, are you trying to hit on my girlfriend?" Anzu yanked Jo away from Mai. "Look all you want, but no touching."  
"I wasn't the one...." Jo desperately tried to wiggle away from the smaller girl, clutching his now sloshing cocoa.

"Man, how low can you get. Hitting on your friend's girlfriend right in front of her." Honda flung himself into another chair.

Jo shook his head, causing little drops of water to spatter around. "But..."

"You were just using me, weren't you?" Mai gasped, her large blue eyes widening.

"Now that's just slimy." Honda waved a warning finger at him. "You're lucky we're your friends and we'll forgive you, but don't let it happen again."

Anzu sniffed, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to trust you again Jo. I turn my back for one second and your trying to steal my girl." She threw herself into Mai's arms sobbing dramatically. "Don't think I blame you love. It's all his fault."

Mai cuddled closer, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, "I don't know what I was thinking. Honest, one minute it was just cocoa, the next he dumps me like a used tampex."

Jo slumped in the chair, "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny. First ya shove me in the back seat, then ya leave me laying there in the rain, next ya make fun of me. See if you're getting a ride back."

Mai smile, "But I've got the valet ticket."

Jo smiled and held up a set of keys, "And I got the keys."

"How the hell...?" Mai frowned.

"While I was waitin' out there in the rain, the valet came over ta see if I needed anything, so I asked him for them." Jo smiled leaning back in the chair. "Nice guy, a little strange, but a nice guy." He peeked over at Mai. "All I had to do was give him your phone number."

Mai squawked, lunging for his throat. Jo grinned happily as she yanked him to his feet and started shaking him. "You gave him what?!"

"You'll like him. So he smells like salami, you can handle that. Can't ya?" Jo let himself get shaken, watching water and cocoa get flung over Mai, Honda, Anzu and the small collection of magazines that cluttered the small waiting room. "You'll be very happy together."

Honda snickered, "Hey, does this mean we get to ride up front."

Mai snarled and let Jo slide back into his seat, "You had better be kidding Jonouchi or I swear I'll..."

"Walk home?" Jo leaned back in the chair, shoving the keys back into his pocket. He sighed blissfully. "Don't worry Mai. We're friends. I'll forgive ya. Your gonna ride in the back seat from now on." He closed his eyes relaxing to the heavenly sound of Mai's teeth grinding together. "But don't worry. I'll forgive ya. Just don't let it happen again."

Yami and Yugi

Yugi crouched behind a tree watching the man slide carefully down the slope. The man still had his mask on and was holding the gun steady as he finally landed and started scouting around. Yugi shifted quietly back, out of sight, listening to the man blunder through the bushes, heading away to the left of where he hid.

_What are we going to do?_ He huddled closer to the ground, trying to make himself as small as possible.

_We're going to let him walk over that way for awhile, then we're going to get behind him and then I'll deal with him._ Yami nearly purred, all but oozing dark, shadowy satisfaction.

_Yami? What are you going to do?_ Yugi shivered half from the cold and half from the darkness swirling around his other.

_Maybe you should go to your room, you probably aren't going to approve._ Yami snuck a peek at the gunman, who was still moving steadily away.

Yugi shook his head. _No. I don't want to leave._ Yugi's essence clung closer to his dark. _I want to stay. Please don't make me go._

Yami wrapped himself around his light. _Alright, but no arguing. That man will kill you if I give him a chance, so you let me handle this. NO HEROICS for the bad man._

_Just don't send him to the shadow realm, okay?_ Yugi settled back down, meshing his mind back with his dark.

_Okay, no shadow realm._ Yami slipped silently through the forest, trailing after the man.

The masked man walked just as silently, inspecting the bushes, peering through the leaves, checking behind fallen logs and large rocks. He occasionally stopped to whisper something quietly in a tiny microphone on his lapel, then move forward again, scanning the ground and the surrounding terrain.

Yami ghosted up behind him, his eyes glowing eerily in the misty woods. The man paused, looking up at a tree, then stepped forward again. Yami paced him, quiet as a shadow, then reached out as it about to touch the man's shoulder whispering, "Mind crush." The man froze in place. Yami stepped forward and grabbed the gun from the man's hands as the man started to slowly wilt to the damp leaf strewn forest floor. "Surprise. Next time, hunt someone else's hikari"

Jame

The small game shop looked quite homey, Jame decided as she stood on the curb, peering up at it from under her umbrella. She wasn't entirely sure what the connection was with turtles, but she gave it points for charm. She checked the address again, then with a dismissing wave to the waiting cabbie, walked to the front door.

The shop looked closed. The lights inside were off and only a dim light could be seen from far in the back. She knocked, then waited, neatly folding her umbrella and shaking the water from her coat. When no one answered, she knocked more briskly and tried to get a better view into the shop. What light there was seemed to be coming from up a staircase behind the main counter. As she watched, the light flickered and someone started coming down the stairs.

Jame stepped back and waited as the door was unlocked and yanked open. "Store's closed."

"Nice to see you too." Jame smirked at her boss, who stood scowling at her.

"What are you doing here?" Kaiba stepped aside, letting his secretary into the shop.

"Someone's breaking into Kaiba Corps. computer system. I tried to call you at home and no one answered, not even the machine. So I tried your cell, again no one answered." She shrugged, ignoring the look of surprise and anger on Kaiba's face. "It took awhile, but I finally tracked your little brother down in Sri Lanka. He told me to check here."

"Someone's breaking into the computer system?" Kaiba stalked past her and up the stairs. "How do you know?"

Jame pattered up after him, surprised to find herself in a small cheerful kitchen that smelled pleasantly of coffee and chocolate. "I tried to pull up one of my files and was rather rudely told: access denied." She nodded questioningly at the coffee sitting on the counter. At Kaiba's nod, she poured herself a cup and refilled his. "So I called a friend of mine, who is good with computers to help. He checked it out and told me to tell you that your system was being hacked."

Kaiba had his laptop out and was already glaring at the screen. "Who exactly did you say this friend was."

"I didn't, and I'm not going to." Jame took a sip of her coffee then wiggled out of her rain jacket.

"How do I know that he's not the one hacking my system." Kaiba growled, eyes never leaving the computer screen.

"Because, he owns a Dell." She looked around and only saw a massacred plate of what might once have been cookies sitting on the counter. It was hard to tell since all that was left was a light dusting of crumbs. She looked over at her boss. "Is this all you've eaten?"

Kaiba grunted and continued to scan the screen. "When did you try to access your files?"

"About four hours ago." Jame scooped up the dish and quickly washed it and set it aside to dry, then noticing a cluster of used mugs began to wash them as Kaiba stated snarling wordlessly behind her.

"Damn."

"I take it you found them." Jame set the now clean mugs aside and wiped down the counter.

"No. Whoever did this knew the correct passwords to access all the secure files." Kaiba snarled at the computer. "The only giveaway was that someone got greedy and tried to hack some of the personal files, which crashed one of the maintenance subroutines. Clumsy. "

Jame shrugged and wiped off the table. "So you can't find them?"

Kaiba slapped his lap top closed. "No, maybe if I'd been online when they were hacking the system, but not now."

Jame took another sip of coffee and looked around the kitchen. She liked this kitchen. It was neat and friendly and very well organized. She wondered who it belonged to. She sat down and set her coffee in front of her. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Nothing." Kaiba picked up the phone that had been sitting next to him and started dialing. "Kado's out working on another assignment and I can't leave here right now. So nothing."

"Someone hacked into the company computer system and all you're going to do is sit here and drink coffee?" Jame arched her eyebrows surprised.

"Priorities." Kaiba lifted the phone to his ear and motioned for her to pull her chair around next to him. "Come here and I'll fill you in."

Yami and Yugi

_I don't see him. Do you?_ Yugi poked his head over the tree they were laying next to, trying to find the other man.

_No, and I don't sense anyone else out here either._ Yami slipped down and worked his way back till the log shielded them from the rain. He didn't want to worry his light, but right now, the wet and the cold were just as dangerous as the man with the gun. It was only through magic that kept their body from giving in to the chill.

_Not even Yuai?_ Yugi snuggled into the dry leaves.

_No, not even her._ Yami closed his eyes trying to concentrate, extending his senses out, trying to locate the little blond.

_You don't think they caught her do you?_ Yugi fretted, trying to stay still, trying not to distract his other.

_No._ Yami put a ghost finger over Yugi's mouth. _Be quiet and rest, then we'll go find her._

Yugi took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. _Okay, but just for a couple minutes._

Yami slid into a trance, his mind racing out trying to find a clue to where the girl had gone. He conjured her image in his head, large hazel eyes, a swirl of blond hair, delicate bones. He gasped as the shadows raced forward hungrily, out of his control, pouncing on the mental image. _No, get back._ He desperately grabbed at them, yanking them away, shoving them down, forcing them back into the shadow realm. He took a deep breath and tried again, rebuilding her image in his mind. _Yuai. You are Yuai. _He looked at the image. _Tell me where you are._

The shadows surged again, breaking through his barriers. _Ours. Ours. You can't have..._

Yami shoved them away, holding tight to the picture he had built of Yugi's friend, trying to add more detail; the sound of her voice, whisper soft; shy laughter; the way she moved like a frightened doe; the humorous slant of her eyes as she watched Mokuba.

_Ours_. The shadows hissed, trying to snatch her away.

_No mine._ Yami concentrated adding the scent of lavender shampoo, the taste of her kisses, the way she bit her lip as she bent over her school work.

_Ours, always ours. _The shadows caught the edge of the image pulling it, trying to drag it back with them into the shadows. _Betrayer. Killer. You aren't worthy._

Yami snarled, turning his full attention on them, slamming them back, tearing the image away from their clutching claws. _Mine. Go and don't return!_

The shadows fled away, leaving Yami snarling into the darkness that surrounded him. He swung around, holding the mental picture tight. _Yuai, tell me where you are! I command it!_

He felt it at the edge of his mind, a slight flicker, fear, worry, desperate anger. He concentrated, trying to focus on that tiny spark. _By your name, I command you, tell me where you are!_

An outraged cry carried back. _YOU are commanding ME!_ Then darkness suddenly fell over everything. The image he held shattered and the shadows flowed back, devouring the shards, racing toward that distant voice. Yami tried desperately to reach them, to pull them back, but the darkness constricted tightly around him and all was lost in a flood of velvet smooth black.

The Rescue Party

"What do you mean, they just left." Jonouchi leaned forward in the small chrome chair he was sitting in, looking more closely at the security guard. "Yugi was hallucinating and you just let him take off with some hippie dude?"

"This is a hotel, not a jail. Our guests are free to leave whenever they wish, with whoever they wish to leave with." The thin pale man, who was the head of security, folded his hands on the desk blotter and looked condescendingly at the dripping blond.

"But that's..."

"Leave it Jo." Mai leaned back in her chair. "When we get home, Kaiba can have fun. Might liven up his weekend." She grinned as the pale man started to fidget and looked innocently over at Jo. "Have you ever considered dating someone who doesn't think of destroying people as entertainment?"

Jo, noting the thin coating of sweat on the man's forehead, shook his head. "Nah, I like Kaiba. So he's got a few quirks," he shrugged, "but he's calmed down. Really. Last week, when a maître d' didn't seat us right away, he just settled for getting the man fired and having his car and house repossessed. See? He's improving."

Anzu shook her head, smiling gently at the now trembling man. "Can't you tell us more about what happened? We really are very worried. Yugi's been our friend for years and Yuai is such a sweet."

The man twisted his fingers, "All we know is that they left immediately. They didn't even take their things from their rooms." He gestured towards the parking lot. "They raced out of here so quickly, that, honestly, our security men couldn't keep up."

"So you let your delusional, star attraction, run out of here and didn't even get a peek at the car?" Honda snorted. He was standing behind Jo scratching under his cast with a pencil.

"It was a van, actually." The man frowned. "A green van with a white roof, driven by a young man who liked to be called Poncho." The man's mouth twisted slightly as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth.

"And they left yesterday afternoon?" Anzu wiggled forward eagerly.

"Yes, just about this time yesterday." The man shifted back in his chair. "I really don't have anymore information to tell you."

"Gee, and you've been so helpful." Jo slouched to his feet. "Can we have our friend's stuff?"

The man opened his mouth with a outraged expression on his face, then wavered. "Of course. I'll have the bellboy take it out to the curb for you."

Jo nodded and sauntered out the door with the others trailing behind. "Okay, any ideas?"

"We could look for the van. If it broke down they might be sitting by the side of the road, waiting." Anzu sounded more hopeful than believing.

"We could ask around at the convention, see if anyone knew this Poncho guy." Mai nodded toward the small sign indicating the direction to the convention.

"Or we could check in and see if Yugi's shown up yet." Honda had a blissful look on his face as he kept scratching with the pencil.

Mai nodded, "Jo you call Kaiba and we'll go to the convention. If Yugi's home, then we'll have fun for a bit and head home. If he isn't, we can see if we can find anything useful and get back on the road."

"Sounds good." Anzu walked in the direction that the sign pointed.

"I'm in too." Honda followed after her, "Let's get some lunch too. I'm starving."

Mai strolled after them waving back over her shoulder at Jonouchi. "We'll meet you there. Don't take too long."

Jo watched them leave, then headed for the public phone that was tucked into a small niche. He dumped his money into the slot and dialed Kame Game Shop, hoping his friend would answer.

Yuai

_The chickens were getting out of hand. It was bad enough that they were perching on the banister, but now they were racing through the living room and nesting on her favorite chair. Yuai looked around the Kaiba mansion, brushing airborne chicken feathers out of her face and tried to assess the damage. So far they had taken over the stairs and were making headway on the living room, she was sure that if she checked the kitchen it would be snowed under a layer of feathers, chicken droppings and hay._

_"Get off that chair." Yuai scooped one of the offending chickens off and dropped it back on the floor. Kaiba was going to be furious when he got home, the were feathers sticking to his laptop that lay open on the coffee table, where two chickens were playing a web game._

_Mokuba strolled by heading for the kitchen. "Hey Yuai? Do we have any eggs?"_

_A golden rooster, looked up from where the computer and fluttered one wing toward the dinning room. "Over there kid. We got plenty."_

_The brown rooster that sat next to him snickered gleefully as it blew the golden one's hot rod off the screen. "Ha! Eat my tail feathers!"_

_"Thanks Jo." Mokuba headed off, tossing a handful of chicken feed to the rooster._

_"Don't tell him that! Who knows what he's going to do with them." Yuai scampered after Mokuba, expecting a disaster, just to find herself back in her old apartment._

_A scrawny hen perched on the back of a worn, cracked, vinyl chair squawking at a rather fat shabby rooster who was watching a football game and scratching himself absently._

_"Where the hell is the money?" the hen shrieked, fluttering her wings, scattering a few worn feathers._

_The fat rooster pecked at her. "Went out with the boys. Now shut the fuck up, they're gonna punt."_

_Yuai tiptoed past heading for her room. As usual there were piles of garbage tossed around, a plastic bag slumped half full in the center of the room next to the mattress that passed for her bed. _

_Two chickens sat on her bed playing Duel Monsters. Both were brightly colored with black, gold and red feathers and clucked softly to each other as they played._

"_I call on the Dark Chicken to destroy your Coop Guardian!" The slightly larger one cackled tossing down a card._

_The smaller one clucked worriedly to himself, then yanked out a card and tossed it down, "I activate the dreaded KFC dark whole chicken fryer and your Dark Chicken...is now a chicken bucket meal."_

_Yuai stepped by them, heading out towards the utility porch that connected to her room and looked around for Mokuba. She saw a shadow move towards the back, behind the sway of half dried laundry that hung from clotheslines that crisscrossed the room._

"_Mokuba?"_

"_Yuai, where are you going?" One of the chickens behind her called out and ran after her grabbing her ankle with it's wings looking pleadingly up at her with soft purple eyes._

"_I have to find Mokuba. He's going to play with eggs." Yuai shook the chicken off gently and stepped into the tangle of laundry._

"_Where are you?" The other chicken poked it's head out of the room, glaring at her with red eyes._

_She stepped farther into the laundry, weaving around a hanging group of tee shirts and ducking under an old moth eaten blanket. It was wet and cold here and she desperately wanted to get back to the mansion and her warm clean room. She slipped a little on a slick dark spot and had to grab a old house dress to keep herself from falling._

"_Tell me where you are." The red eyed chicken squawked, racing forward and trying to tackle her ankle._

_She stepped around the bird, seeing a small dark haired figure slipping behind the washing machine. The rooster dove back at her ankle in a fluff of red tipped black feathers. Yuai sighed, reached down and plucked it off her foot then and gave it a little toss back in the direction of his friend. She looked around again and noticed that it was getting considerably darker. She wiggled around an enormous pair of jeans that soggily dripped onto the linoleum floor and spotted Mokuba holding a basket of eggs. He grinned mischievously at her and dodged as she made a grab for him._

_The rooster wasn't finished yet and came storming through a cluster of underwear. "I command you to tell me where you are!" The chicken grabbed her foot tripping her, allowing Mokuba to race away through the laundry, chuckling and fondling his new eggs._

_Yuai glared at the stubborn bird and scooped him up. "YOU are commanding ME!" She threw the chicken back towards his buddy. Darkness quickly descended and Mokuba's chuckles were growing fainter in the distance. Yuai raced through the laundry, following that laugh as soft dark wings wrapped around her, lifting her above the laundry, letting her see the grimy apartment clearly. She smiled, reaching out to stroke the warm feathers, soon, she could go home soon..._

Yuai woke with a start, looking around her little hidey-hole, trying to figure out what woke her. She was tucked deep beneath the roots of a fallen tree, unless one crawled under the tree and saw that it hid a small cave, she was hidden from sight, and more importantly, dry. She had spent enough time sleeping in the woods to recognize the need to not only hide from the people with guns, but also get someplace dry.

She cuddled back farther into the dry leaves and wondered how Yugi was. She felt a bit bad leaving him, but by the time she had stopped running away from the sight of an invisible Yugi, she hadn't known where she was, much less Yugi. "Yugi, please, please be okay...."

* * *

Review and be loved


	17. Knitting Things Together

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

This is way late. I know. I've been busy and the rest of the chapters might be a bit slow in coming till my life is normal, or what passes for normal, again.

* * *

Emergence

Chapter 17: Knitting Things Together

Bakura and Ryou

Bakura lifted his face out of his sleeping hikari's hair and blinked sleepily around the tent. The brazier still cast dancing, golden shadows across the soft carpets and luxurious pillows. The silken canvas of the walls ruffled and billowed lightly in a desert wind that also carried small bits of sand to hiss across the roof of the tent. Ryou yawned and turned over, sleepily pulling him back down into the warm nest of silk pillows they slept in.

"Yami, sleep…" Ryou whispered, his eyes never opening, his slender hands gently tugging him closer.

Bakura nudged a pillow to a more comfortable location and let himself be drawn back to the warmth of his light. Ryou murmured sleepily against his chest, petal soft lips brushing across his skin. His little hikari, so soft, so delicate, so innocent. Bakura cuddled him closer, closing his eyes, letting sleep wrap around his tired mind.

It was nice here. The tent, which was as much a surprise to him as it was to Ryou, tugged pleasantly at his memory. He was almost sure he had lived in one, sometime, somewhere back in Egypt. The pillows, the brazier of hot coals, even the way the wind played across the tent fabric, whispered of someplace, sometime that he had been happy. He could almost hear quiet, comforting voices from the other side of the silken walls. He could almost smell cook-fires burning, could almost feel soft gentle hands stroking lightly over his skin.

Bakura's eyes popped open and looked down into soft, brown, mischievous eyes as gentle hands wandered over to naughtier places. "Ryou?"

"Yes?" The brown eyes almost dripped with naive innocence.

Bakura scrambled is sleepy wits together. "I take it you want something?"

Kaiba and Jame

Kaiba stood at the counter and tried to decide if he wanted the cannelloni, stuffed with creamy ricotta cheese and drizzled with an exquisite white wine sauce or if he should have shrimp scampi. He picked up a piece of garlic bread and started absently nibbling on it as he considered his options.

"Just how old is Yugi?" Jame was sitting at the Moto's kitchen table that now had a contour map of the mountain area of the resort spread over it. A portable fax machine sat nearby and a scattering of photographs was now collected in front of his secretary, who was sorting through them, trying to find one to fax to the sheriff station near the hotel.

Kaiba settled for the cannelloni, scooping it onto his plate from it's Styrofoam carton. "About seventeen."

Jame looked doubtfully at the photo in her hand, then shrugged and stuck the photo into the fax machine. Kaiba happily poured himself a generous helping of minestrone soup from another Styrofoam container and walked out of the kitchen into the living room, where his laptop was sitting on the coffee table. It had taken his little treasure less then twenty minutes to organize the search, order maps of the area, track down relevant officials for him to threaten into submission and have a gourmet Italian meal delivered to the Moto residence. For someone who was having a bad day, he was amazingly content.

He settled onto the couch and picked up Jame's cell phone. "Okay Tink, you think they had the passwords?"

"Had to, look at the log dates. No one hacks that fast." The other man's light, quick voice answered back.

Kaiba snorted, then checked the time. "What the…"

"Yep. If Jame hadn't logged on right then, you probably wouldn't have noticed. Any minor crashes could've been easily explained by a faulty sub routine."

Kaiba scowled, "Still, less then three minutes to hack and grab all employee data is impressive, even with the passwords."

"Unless, they used that as cover."  
Kaiba scanned down the log list, "What do you mean?"

"If I made a booboo hacking and I wanted to cover it, I might consider doing a re-hack and having that cover the trail of the first."

"Play with the log times?" Kaiba sat back, absently wondering how his secretary knew this man.

"Possible. Clumsy as hell, but possible."

"Hmmm…then why?" Kaiba swirled a pattern in his cannelloni's sauce, his eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Perhaps to cover where the hack came from." There was a slight gloat in the other voice.

"You know." Kaiba grinned evilly as a confirming snicker whispered in his ear.

"Would you believe there is an unrecorded log-on from inside your own building? Take a look."

Kaiba looked as his screen shifted. "I see what you mean…"

Yami and Yugi

Yugi woke up in his soul room with a warm, whole feeling, as if he was wrapped in a cozy blanket, as if part of his soul had been returned to him. He scrambled out of bed and ran into the hall, expecting to find Yami in control of their body, only to find no one there.

"Yami?" He looked over at his other's door questioningly as he searched their bond. He nearly giggled when a snore met him.

He walked over to the darker door and nudged it open, "Yami?" He poked his head inside and saw his dark sprawled, spread eagle, his head thrown back, snoring loudly, on the stone floor of his soul room. Yugi grinned, "Now there's a Kodak moment."

He quietly glided up to his yami's side and knelt down. "Yami?"

A loud snore answered him.

"Yami? I decided to give up Duel Monsters and play Pokemon, 'kay?"

A couple of little snorts proceeded the next snore and Yami wiggled a hand.

"Okay, no Pokemon. How about Duel Masters? It sorta sounds like…"

The snore that met that comment had a bit of a buzz to it and Yami shifted in his sleep, brushing at his nose. Hazy crimson eyes opened and looked groggily at him. "Wha'?"

Yugi grinned, his darkness had never looked so absolutely, amazingly beautiful to him before. Never mind that he had a little line of drool down one chin, or that his hair was flattened, or that his neck belt had ridden up to nearly his chin, to Yugi he was perfect.

Yami levered himself up, shaking his head, "Sorry aibou. Tried to do too much to fast."  
Yugi helped him up, taking the opportunity to snuggle as close as possible to his other. "That's alright, love. You should rest if your that tired. We're safe enough, aren't we?"

"Yes, we're safe, but I couldn't find Yuai." Yami cuddled his light closer, leaning on him as he guided them back out to the hall. "I almost had contact with her when the shadows interfered. When I tried again, I was too tired to stay in contact with her and hold off the shadows."

"We need to find her then." Yugi tugged him down the hall, an all too familiar look plastered on his sweet face.

"Yes, or better, find the man hunting us." Yami smiled at his determined light. "I have an idea."

Jonouchi

The line to the payphone wound down the hall around a corner, past the soda/snack room, down another hall and nearly out one of the side exits. It also crawled along like a glacier in winter. Jonouchi shuffled lifelessly along at the very end wondering if, by the time he reached the phone, Kaiba would tell him that he'd better get back to attend Yugi and Yuai's grandkid's college graduation ceremonies.

His stomach growled and tied itself into a knot around his spine, apparently deciding to see if it could digest that. The lady standing in front of him looked up from her knitting at the sound, glanced around, then went back to chanting, "Knit one, pearl two, knit one, pearl two, knit one, pearl two" as her needles flashed in the dim, though highly stylish, light of the hall.

"Hey, Jo. Do you have your deck on ya?" Honda breezed merrily up.

"Yeah." Jonouchi dug in his pocket and pulled his deck out. "What's up."

"I just want to see your Baby Dragon card for a sec." He took the deck and flipped quickly through the cards. "Yep. It's got a gold boarder. I told Mai, but she said it was brown." He handed the deck back, then turned, walking back to toward the convention.

"Hey!" Jo started to take a step toward him, then stopped as he noticed the predatory gleam in the eyes of the man behind him. He quickly reclaimed his space, glaring back.

"We're going to eat in a few. Meet us in the cafeteria." Honda sauntered away, waving back over his shoulder.

Jonouchi viciously wished Honda, Honda's kids and his kid's kids to a miserable eternity of painfully embarrassing pimples on prom nights and sexual malfunctions at critical moments, as he watched his friend disappear around the corner. "Bet they never think of even savin' me a bag o' chips."

Yami and Yugi

The gunman still lay where they had left him, his eyes open, staring blindly at the wet leaves that dripped onto his face. Yugi carefully dragged him over to a large tree by his feet and set him against it. He searched his clothes and found what he wanted the microphone and headpiece that the man wore. Yugi carefully peeled it away as Yami grinned widely at his hikari. _We have the stage. Let's start the act._

Yami took complete control of the body, gently pushing his light aside, covered his mouth with his hand to muffle his voice and growled into the mic. "Gotcha, ya little shit."

Yugi took control and yelled, "Let go! Let go!"

Yami, still grinning like a fox, switched with him and once again muffling his voice, snarled, "Tell me where your friend is ya piece o' shit." Then slapped his uninjured hand hard against his leg.

Yugi, grinning back, switched again and screamed, "No! Please don't!"

Yami, switching, growled into his hand as he again slapped his leg. "Tell me or I'll…"

Yugi, taking control, wailed, "Over there, over there! Please, stop!"

Merging themselves back to one, Yugi pulled the microphone plug out then retrieved the rifle from the bushes where he had hid it. He winced as he fired it into the air, then quickly placed the gun next to the man's limp hand and darted back under cover. Yami snickered softly as a faint voice cheeped from the earpiece. _I think we got his attention._

_Remember, no shadow realm!_ Yugi strained to hear through the steady patter of rain on leaves.

_Don't worry. I have no intention of cluttering up the shadow realm with this garbage._ Yami shifted as he sensed someone approaching, then hummed happily. _I think our little deer is coming._

_Yami, I really don't think now is the time to be cheerful._ Yugi suppressed the urge to wiggle anxiously as footsteps came closer.

A large man in a green ski mask carefully prowled through the foliage. He looked around the area and caught sight of the man laying against the tree. He paused, scanning around him again, then cautiously stepped closer till he stood over his associate and nudged him with his foot.

Yami moved out of their hiding place, sliding up behind the man like a breath of air with a feral smile on his face. _This is the one that hurt you, isn't it?_ Yami lifted his hand. "Illusion of Prey."

The man froze, the gun falling silently to the forest floor. Yami stepped back and watched as the man suddenly shrieked, running headlong into the forest, wildly thrashing through bushes, falling, scrambling as he fled from an unseen hunter. _That should keep him busy._

_I don't want to know. Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it._ Yugi looked away, trying to pretend he couldn't hear the mans terrified screams retreating into the woods.

Yami nodded and looked around. _Now, if that's all of them, let's find Yuai and go home. A warm bath with lots of bubbles is calling to me._

_I want hot chocolate with marshmallows._ Yugi nearly purred at the thought, as they walked back the way the second man had come from.

Jonouchi

"….knit one, pearl two, knit one, pearl two…"

Kaiba

"Tanaka?" Kaiba tried to wrap his mind around Tanaka, his head of Human Resources, hacking into the computer system. It just didn't make sense, the man could have easily walked down the hall and requested the information and no one would have thought twice about it. Why hack into the system when it wasn't needed? He looked down at the computer screen, shaking his head. "Somehow I'm not believing this."

"Hey, you. Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity." Jame yelled from the kitchen. "Do you want me to schedule some time for you with a therapist?"

"Why would someone hack into files that they didn't need to hack into?" Kaiba yelled back, more in frustration than in any expectation of an answer.

"They wouldn't." Jame walked out of the kitchen chewing on a piece of garlic bread. "I'm going to need you to scare a few years off the life of a dedicated public servant in a couple of minutes. You going to have time?"

Kaiba grunted and glared down at his laptop, "Sure, when you need me, just tell me who, what, and why."

Jame nodded and padded back to the kitchen, leaving him standing looking at the data in front of him. _No one would hack for information that they could easily get, so why hack at all? What would be the point?_ Kaiba walked over to a window and stared out. _First, I almost get sent to the convention for an unplanned holiday. Second, the phone lines are down at the convention. Third, Yugi, who is at the convention, disappears. Fourth, someone hacks the computer at Kaiba Corp. for no apparent reason, then goes back in to hide the fact that they hacked into the computer system, for no apparent reason. As Jo would say, "Why go there?"_

Kaiba looked back at the computer sitting on the coffee table._ A triple blind? One hack to cover another, that covers yet a third?_ He shook his head. _Possible, but does it connect with the other things? If he had gone to the convention, what would have changed?_

He looked back out the window, watching as a group of kids ran down the sidewalk holding books over their heads and laughing as they dodged through the rain. The clouds still loomed low over the city, their soft undersides still drizzling a thick layer of misty rain.

_I'm missing something…_ He walked back over to the couch and sat down to more conveniently brood at the computer. _If I work on the assumption that it is a triple blind, that would still leave me with a trail to someplace, or more importantly to someone._

Jonouchi

The line creeped around the corner. The sweater that the woman was knitting was getting longer. The man behind him was getting weirder. His stomach had given up trying to eat his backbone and was now making threatening, gurgling noises at his liver and other internal organs. As he leaned against the wall, shifting his weight back and forth between his tired feet, Jo tried to remember why he was standing in this line to begin with. _Okay, I'm supposed to call Kaiba and…what? beg for him to come up here and save me from my friends and while he's at it could he please bring me something to eat? _Jo leaned forward touching his toes, trying to get the kinks out of his back._ No, Yugi, I am supposed to ask if Yugi got home. Like that's likely, he's been missing for an entire day…well, okay…an entire night last I checked…okay…maybe he is home. I wonder if I could **still** get Kaiba to bring me food? A burger…yeah…and fries with extra ketchup and a shake, chocolate…hmmm, that sounds good…_

Yami and Yugi

Yugi sat under a thick bush, trying to keep as dry as possible, as Yami concentrated on trying to locate Yuai. His darker half had been trying to locate her for the last hour and it was starting to get dark. The rain still hadn't let up and he was getting worried about his girl. It wasn't like she had a yami to look out for her, or keep her warm. She was out there alone in the forest, the wet, cold, rainy forest.

_She's quite good at taking care of herself, aibou. _Yami, standing in spirit form a few feet away, looked back over his shoulder at him. _I wouldn't worry too much. We'll find her soon._

_How can you be so sure? _Yugi peered around at the darkening and increasingly threatening forest. _Can you sense her?_

_Not yet._ Yami looked back out at the trees. _But she is the only other human being out here. I'll find her. _

Yugi scrunched around under the bush, trying to find a drier spot. _Do you think she's trying to hide from us? She did run away._

Yami shrugged, his head turning slightly back and forth as if he was trying to listen for something. _When we find her, we'll ask her about it. _Yami stopped and then smiled back at his hikari. _Found her._ He pointed over to the right. _That direction. She's asleep, that's probably why I couldn't locate her earlier. Her mind's too quiet._

Yugi scrambled out from under the bush and headed off in the direction Yami pointed. _Is she okay?_

_She's asleep. I really couldn't sense much._ Yami glided along next to him.

Yugi slogged through the leaves, wishing he could find his girlfriend and just leave. He was tired of the rain. He was tired of the wet. He wanted to be home, safe, playing a game of Payday and sipping hot chocolate, with Yami watching the news, Grandpa taking a nap in his chair, and Yuai gleefully plotting his downfall across the board from him.

As they trudged, the sky got darker. The trees were denser here, the trunks larger, the branches that he stumbled over were getting bigger. The rain took the opportunity to get in one last downpour, causing actual streams of water to pour down from the leaves as raindrops thudded dully into the decaying leaves underfoot. Yami stopped and pointed to a large tree that was uprooted, laying on it's side in a mass of dead leaves and small bushes.

_There._ Yami pointed toward the tree. _She's there, toward the base of the tree._

Yugi scampered over. _I don't see anyone, are you sure._

_Yes._ Yami slipped next to him and looked under the tree. _I'm sure._

"Yuai?" Yugi called softly. "Are you here?"

A small rustle of leaves answered him, then a whisper soft voice. "Yugi?"

He crawled in and found himself in a very tiny, dark, dry cave. "Hi."

"Are you all right?" More leaves rustled as Yuai unburied herself.

"Yeah. The gunmen…ah…well, they left." Yugi leaned forward and kissed her as she snuggled close to him in the small space. He noticed that she was both warm and dry and tried cuddling closer.

"You're all wet." She wiped her hand across his face and flicked off the water. "Are you sure they're gone?"

Yugi nodded, "Come on. Let's go home."

Yuai pulled back slightly, "How?"

"Huh?" Yugi felt her push him toward the nest of leaves she had come from.

"Yugi, it's dark. It's cold. It's raining and we have no idea where we are. How are we supposed to get home?" She shuffled around in the dark for a few moments then dropped a pile of leaves on top of him.

_I hate to say it, but she's got a point._ Yami peeked in the door.

Yuai's head snapped around, looking wide eyed at Yami. "Oh, m'god."

Yugi brushed a few leaves off and glanced over at her. "What's wrong?"

"There's an invisible you looking in at us." Yuai pointed a shaking finger at Yami.

Yami blinked, then looked over at Yugi. _She can see me? How did that happen?_

"You can see him?" Yugi reached over and pulled Yuai closer. He could feel her shaking against him, her eyes still riveted on Yami.

She looked over at him. "There is an invisible you, right there." She whispered, still pointing.

Yugi sighed, buried himself in the warm leaves and pulled her down next to him. "This is going to take some time. You see, my grandpa gave me a puzzle…"

Jonouchi

"Now all you do is hold the needles like this." The lady positioned Jonouchi's hands in the correct manner. "Very good."

Jo smiled happily as the lady who had been standing in front of him gently guided his fingers on the two knitting needles.

"Okay, put the yarn over your finger like this." She looped a long strand of purple over one finger. "And your ready to start."

Jo hesitantly slipped the needles together and looped the purple strand around them.

"Good! Very good." The lady cheered. "It's so nice to see a young person knitting."

Jonouchi grinned, shuffled his feet, glanced at where the line disappeared around a corner and tried taking another stitch. _I swear, when I get out of here, I am going to kill all my friends. _His stomach seconded the motion with a loud growl. _Just after I catch a burger and fries at Burger World._

Kaiba

Yugi's grandfather had arrived home a couple hours ago, took one look at his kitchen, another look at the unnervingly focused CEO crouched over a computer in his living room and had quietly gone to bed. Jame had neatly packed up the Italian food into the Moto's refrigerator, made coffee and harried an underpaid policeman into releasing a bit of news that was sure to get him fired if his chief ever found out.

Kaiba watched as his fingers seemed to fly over the keyboard on automatic as his mind tumbled the information over and over. Yugi…the shadow attack…a dead boy in a van…a break-in on his computer system…the failure of the phone lines. _This was planned, but what is the plan?_ His mind suddenly added another event. _The attack on Mokuba, could that be related?_ As his fingers traced a thread of a lead down, he frowned. _What? What am I missing? It's right in front of me and I'm not seeing…_

His fingers stopped as he looked down at the screen. "Well, now there's a surprise."

He picked up his cell and called a car to come pick him up, then stood up and walked into the kitchen, where Jame was flipping through a stack of papers and drawing on the map with colored markers. "I have to go out. If Jo or the others call, contact me on my cell."

Jame waved absently to him, coloring along a small winding road. "Okay. When will you be back?"

Kaiba turned and walked down the staircase, "It shouldn't take long." He felt his mouth curl into a snarling, dragon smile. "No, this shouldn't take long at all."

* * *

Review please! 


	18. Home Again, Home Again

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Here it is! Authoress ducks into bomb shelter Since starting this storyline I've had 2 car wrecks, 5 computer crashes and now I'm on codeine…. I'm cursed. If this comes out too funky I'll correct as soon as I'm off the weird drugs.

* * *

Emergence

Chapter 18: Home Again, Home Again

Kaiba

Kaiba settled back into the seat as the limo pulled away from the curb. He turned his head watching the rain strike against the window. _Odd, very odd._ He shook his head. _Okay, I'm ruthless, but this? Not even dear old_ _Gozaburo would try shadow magic, assassination attempts, kidnapping and corporate espionage for a small, nearly dead company who's takeover benefits everyone._

He shifted uncomfortably, tugging at the collar of his trench coat. Quistcell Tech was a tiny company who's only recommendation was a string of small, dilapidated warehouses in Tokyo. Land being scarce there and in high demand, it was worth Kaiba Corp's time and capital to buy out the company just to acquire the warehouses. The CEO of Quistcell, who had inherited his father's company without even getting a small glimmer of his father's business sense, had been the one to approach him with the buyout offer. No shady dealings, no backroom agreements, nothing, just a straight buyout of a floundering business. _Then why do this? What is he trying to pull?_

Kaiba tapped his finger against his lip, thinking. _Could he be the front man for another organization? Who? Who would he know that understands shadow magic? Isis? Doubtful, she didn't impress me as the corporate raider type. Shadi? Again, too deep in ancient Egypt, still it's possible that something is going on there. However, I don't see them hiring_ _hit men_ _and hacking computers. The yamis? Bakura? No, he's devious and dangerous, but he's straightforward about it. If he wanted_ _you dead he wouldn't hire out. Marik? Now there is a possibility. He likes to use underlings and has made attempts on Mokuba, Yugi and me. Yami Yugi? Again possible, but would he put Mokuba in danger after spending so much time and effort to keep him safe? Would he put Yugi's girlfriend in danger? No. How about Pegasus? Could he wrench his attention away from Funny Bunny long enough to get what's left of his mind together to plot anything more than how to avoid the next round of medication?_ Kaiba snorted at the thought and narrowed his eyes. _So I come down to Marik._ _But Marik the corporate raider??? What could he gain? Take over the world by having a worthless businessman try to make me go to a gaming convention? Tick Yami Yugi off by carting off Yugi? Have hired thugs take pot shots at Mokuba, for what?_

The limo turned into a driveway, jerking Kaiba out of his thoughts. They were sitting in front of a large expensive mansion, the home of Hiro Yoshikawa, the owner of Quistcell. The building loomed dark and unlit in the gloom, the driveway that swept in a graceful curve, surrounded by huge trees and lush gardens, was slick and dark with rain water. The gate leading to the drive was open, swinging forlornly in the wind, creaking faintly. He motioned for the driver to continue up to the house. _This would give Jo the creeps. He'd probably start in on ghosts and haunted houses._

Kaiba grinned at the mental picture of Jonouchi staring frightened out the car window, mentally swatting down his own foreboding with the image. _I wonder what you're doing right now love._ He straitened his coat, smoothed down his hair and set his shoulders. _Time to end this._

Yami, Yugi and Yuai

"So what does he do?" Yuai looked doubtfully over at Yami. "Give messages from beyond like that guy on TV?"

_I do NOT!_ Yami glared back.

"No, he just…uh…uhmmm….well…plays games and stuff." Yugi mumbled then winced as Yami transferred his glare to him, shrinking back into the nest of leaves that he was half buried in, cuddled against Yuai.

"That's it?" Yuai sighed, "How about secrets from ancient Egypt like how the pyramids were built?"

_I was the pharaoh, not some common laborer._ Yami was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the small cave under the tree.

"He knows shadow magic." Yugi supplied.

"Shadow magic?" Yuai wiggled around in Yugi's arms to look at him. "What's shadow magic."

_Along side this realm, this world, is another one, the Shadow Realm._ Yami looked out at the storm that was still drenching the forest. _When you use shadow magic, you tap into the energies of that realm, letting you summon creatures from there and cast spells._

"Really?" Yuai looked back at Yami. "Can you use it to get us out of here?"

"He's tired." Yugi yawned, "and so am I. Let's get some sleep. We'll get out of here tomorrow. Right Yami?"

_Right aibou._ _Tomorrow._ He returned his attention to the two that were snuggled in the dry leaves in front of him. Yugi felt a bit of alarm as he looked at his dark. Yami looked paler than normal, nearly washed out, even his bright hair was dull, nearly grey. The usual confident expression was missing, revealing worry, exhaustion and sadness. And his eyes were nearly lost in shadows.

_Yami? Are you okay?_

Yami shrugged and disappeared back into the puzzle.

"He's been away for awhile." Yugi shivered. "He needs to rest."

"You don't think he's mad at me do you?" Yuai blinked confused at the space that Yami had been sitting in, "I mean, if you had an ancient Egyptian show up, wouldn't you want to know about the pyramids and the afterlife and all that?"

"Actually," Yugi looked away, "when I first realized who he was and everything, I asked him that sort of stuff. He ranted for days about not giving a damn about what was buried under the pyramids and who the hell cares if some teenage twit of a pharaoh got himself killed a couple thousand years ago."

"Ooops." Yuai blushed. "Tell him I said sorry."

"You should have heard Jonouchi said when he found out. He was planning on putting Yami on TV. He even came up with a title for the show, _Good Times with Dead Guys._ Yami practically went into orbit."

"Still, tell him…"

"Don't worry. I will. Now lets get some sleep." Yugi kissed her lips gently. "Good night."

"G' night Yugi." She snuggled down. "Let's all dream of good things tonight. Like warm beds, hot breakfasts and me beating you in Life."

"Even better, me beating you in Life."

"Not a chance."

"A night of dishes says I can take you."

"You're already asleep aren't you. You're dreaming."  
"Ha."

"Ha."

_Will you two please…_

"Sorry. Good night Yami." Yugi buried his face in Yuai's hair, closing his eyes.

"Sorry Yami. Good night." Yuai kissed Yugi twice and cuddled closer. "One of those is for you."

Kaiba

The door was open allowing rain to spatter across the inlay tile flooring of the foyer. On a table in the center of the room a vase of white lilies lay shattered, the slender flowers scattered across the tabletop amidst glittering pieces of crystal. Two staircases swept up on either side of the entrance leading up into the unlit upper floors. A dark cave of a hall was across the foyer.

Kaiba stood in the dim light provided by the limo's headlights, looking around. _Not quite the reception I was expecting._ He stepped around the lilies and fragments of crystal, walking into the back hall.

"Yoshikawa! Where are you?!" Kaiba made his way down the hall, listening for some clue where the man may be and carefully negotiating the scattered bits of broken décor as he went. "Yoshikawa! I know what you did. Did you really think you'd get away with it?!"

The sound of breaking glass caught his attention as he passed a door. He carefully pushed the door open and looked inside. Hiro Yoshikawa stood in the center of a small library, methodically smashing crystal goblets against the floor, grinning happily as each glass shattered. He looked up as Kaiba stepped into the room, his grin widening.

"Kaiba, I was just thinking of you." He looked at the glass he held in his hand, then smiling threw it down onto the floor. "How have you been?"

Kaiba looked around the room. At some point in time it must have been a lovely place, but now the books were spread across the floor; the once elegant, upholstered chairs were broken with their fine fabric coverings slashed; delicate lamps lay crushed amidst the ruin, with only one small green desk lamp that lay tipped over on the floor by a overturned desk, provided any light. "Housekeeping's day off?"

Yoshikawa smiled and laughed lightly, "Good help and all that." He waved toward the mess. "I'd offer you a chair, but I seem to be all out."

Kaiba nodded, "Want to tell me what's going on?" He leaned back against the door, keeping a good distance between the man and him.

"Oh, you know…" the man reached out and picked up a glass, raising it and watching the light play across it's facets.

"But there is so much. Shall we start with why you hired people to kill Mokuba?" Kaiba smiled a cold dragony smile as the man raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Oh, that." He shrugged and smashed the glass down against the table, cutting his hand. "Bad information gathering, that. I was trying to keep you busy." He shrugged casually and picked up another glass. "Didn't realize you were sick."

"We all have our little problems." Kaiba watched as blood trickled down the sides of the glass and dripped onto the table.

"Yes, we do. I had really hoped Duke stealing Jonouchi away from you would keep you distracted, but…" Yoshikawa shrugged, twirling the glass in his fingers, "You like to drown your sorrows in work." He sent Kaiba a chiding glance, "You really work too much, you're going to have a stroke before your thirty at the pace your going."

"You arranged that? With Duke?" Kaiba slid his hand into his pocket, fingering his cell phone.

"Hmmm. Duke is such a nice lay. Lots of fun." Yoshikawa brought the glass down, shattering it in his hand, then letting the pieces fall to the floor. "He wasn't quite so much fun at first, but a bit of magic and he calmed right down."

"Magic?" Kaiba snorted. "There's no such thing."

The man bent down and picked up a book, "Of course there is, don't be silly." He opened the book, flipping through the pages, ripping them out as he went. "And you're quite good at it aren't you?" he grinned up at Kaiba suddenly, slyly. "What does it take to get you to relax and take a vacation? Hmmm?"

Kaiba shrugged. "I was having computer problems at work. Thanks for the thought."

Yoshikawa laughed, tossing the gutted cover of the book to the floor. "Stress Kaiba, it'll kill you."

Kaiba shifted, watching the other man carefully. "What were you looking for?"

"Looking for?" Yoshikawa waved negligently. "Really, I can't remember right now. Something or other." He looked around the room. "It was right here a moment ago… Ah, well, easy come easy go."

"How about Yugi?" Kaiba flipped open the phone in his pocket.

The man, who had been shuffling through the wreckage, looking at the floor, stopped and looked up at him puzzled. "Yugi?"

"At the convention? You hired someone to kidnap him. We found the van and the dead boy, now where is Yugi?" Kaiba straitened as the man bent forward suddenly.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about." He lifted a rather thick book and clutched it lovingly to his chest. "All I wanted was for you to go to the convention. I have no idea who this Yugi is, or why you're babbling about a van and a dead boy." He turned around and shuffled back to the small bar with it's now almost empty top. He set he book down, stroking the cover gently, smearing blood across the cover.

"You've already admitted to trying to kill Mokuba. You hacked into my computer system. Claim to have used magic to get me to leave town and now you balk at saying you grabbed Yugi Moto and killing some nameless kid?"

Yoshikawa sighed, "I can't claim another person's work." He opened the book, revealing that the insides had been carved out. A small sheaf of papers lay inside on top of something. "There is such a thing as random violence Kaiba." He lifted the papers, revealing a small revolver. "Not everything revolves around you, you know."

Kaiba dove quickly to the side, behind the bulk of a overturned table and pulled out his cell phone. He hit a button, summoning his driver inside. "Give up Yoshikawa. I've already called the police."

"Give up? Why Kaiba, I just told you, not everything revolves around you."

Kaiba looked over the edge of the table. Yoshikawa stood where he had been, next to his bar, holding the gun thoughtfully in his hand. The man was smiling at him lightly, as if he had just told an amusing story at a party. "What the hell are you…"

Yoshikawa, smile never wavering, lifted the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger.

Yugi, Yuai and Yami

"I spy with my little eye…"

"Log."

_Tree._

"Can you two wait till I at least get the sentence out?" Yugi kicked the damp leaves underfoot and continued trudging.

The day had dawned a bit less wet, a bit more cold and a lot more windy. They had been walking east for the last three hours, hoping to find a road. So far they had found trees, logs, leaves and angry squirrels. Yugi rubbed his head where one small rodent had managed to bean him with a nut.

_Sorry aibou._ Yami glided watchfully ahead of them.

Yuai sighed, "Let's play another game. There just isn't all that much to look at right now."

"Twenty questions?" Yugi looked up, checking to make sure they were still heading in the right direction.

"Only if we don't pick anything food related." Yuai had her hands tucked under her arms, trying to stay warm.

"Okay, I'm thinking of some…"

"Leaves."

_Rain._

"Hey! You're my yami, stop that!"

Yami smiled back at his light, then turned sharply. _Aibou? Did you hear that?_

"Hear what?" Yugi raced up to where his dark was standing at the edge of a gentle slope, Yuai tagging at his heels.

_A car horn. I heard a car horn._ Yami darted down the hill. _Wait there for a minute. I'll go see._

Yugi nodded, looking eagerly out at the forest.

"Did you hear it?" Yuai stood shivering next to him.

He pulled her into a hug. "No, but I was talking to you guys and Yami was ahead of us. He could have heard something."

Yuai nodded, hugging Yugi back. Yami appeared at the bottom of the slope, smiling and waving to them to come down.

_There's a road!_

"Yes!" Yugi scampered down the hill, dragging Yuai along with him. "We are out of here!"

Jame

"Would you like me to make you some coffee Mr. Moto?" Jame stood at the counter, watching the pale old man sit staring down at the table.

"No. No. I'm fine. Thank you." He didn't even look up at her.

She frowned worriedly, then turned and stared making breakfast. "Well, let me get you something to eat. You can't start a day on an empty stomach."

Solomon nodded listlessly, tracing small patterns on the table with his finger. "You just don't realize how much room someone takes up in your life till they're not there."

Jame nodded, breaking some eggs and whisking them together. She wasn't entirely sure what to say, so she stayed quiet and listened.

"He really is such a small child. Never was very big, even as a baby." Solomon coughed softly and rubbed his eyes.

Jame put some bread in a toaster and set a pan on the stove to heat. "I saw his picture. He didn't seem very tall."

Solomon lifted his head and looked at her. "I'm afraid he got that from me."

Jame nodded, pouring the eggs into the pan and stirring them around with a spatula. "I saw the resemblance. He inherited your hair too, didn't he."

Solomon dropped his head back down to stare at the table. "Yes. I suppose he did." His head jerked up as the door bell jingled bellow.

"Grandpa! I'm home!" A bright voice yelled from bellow.

"Yugi!" In an instant the pale, drooping, old man changed. Solomon was out of his chair and racing down the stairs before Jame could even take in the sudden change. "Yugi, my boy, where have you been? I have been worried sick about you."

A half muffled voice, answered back, "Sorry Grandpa. We were lost in the woods and…"

"Don't you ever worry me like that again! Do you hear me young man!" Solomon sounded like he was both angry and crying at the same time.

"Grandpa, I promise…" The voice was less muffled.

"And you! Are you all right Yuai? Look at you. You are freezing."

"Grandpa, honestly, I'm just a bit damp." A girl's voice, soft, whispery and faintly shocked sounding piped up.

"Upstairs, the pair of you, and into some dry clothing." The old man sounded gruff and a bit growlly.

Jame grinned and reached for some more eggs as a pair of mud splatted, bedraggled figures were herded into the kitchen. She recognized Yugi from his picture immediately, but the small blond girl at his side was a mystery. Solomon stepped in a second behind them. Yugi stopped, looking at her puzzled.

"Uh, hi." He gave her a bright, if somewhat confused look.

"Hi, I'm Jame, Kaiba's secretary. He asked me to come over and help out." Jame nodded to the breakfast that she was making.

Yugi smiled back at her as his grandfather pushed him out of the kitchen toward the steps up to his room, the small blond at his heels, being nudged along too. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping Grandpa out."

Jame waved the spatula back. "Nice meeting you too."

They all disappeared for a few minutes, then Solomon, strode happily back into the room smiling. "Lost in the woods, only my grandson…" He looked around the kitchen grinning. "Well, let's get them fed." He reached for the loaf of bread and caught the toast as it popped out of the toaster. "Can't start the day on an empty stomach."

Kaiba

Kaiba decided the whole night was something he never really wanted to talk about. Yugi disappearing had not been a happy moment. He liked the other teen. He enjoyed their rivalry. He wasn't ready to admit he was friends with the other, but he appreciated a good opponent, and Yugi and his yami were certainly that. Finding out that his computer system was being hacked hadn't exactly been joyful either. That someone would break through his security program, that he had designed, and rifled through his files unchecked, made him angry enough to throw his head back and roar at the heavens.

But it had been the whole Yoshikawa incident that he wanted to forget. The look in the man's eyes, the disconnected, absent look in his eyes as they had talked, sent chills down his back. It had almost been like that man hadn't really been there.

Kaiba sat looking out the window of the limo, not registering that he was once again in front of the Kame Game Shop, till his driver knocked questioningly on the window. He nodded a quick acknowledgement and stepped out as the door was opened for him. "Stay close, or have someone come and relieve you."

"Yes sir."

Kaiba barely heard him as he walked into the shop, noting that the floor was getting dirty. A scattering of mud and leaves trailed through the shop and up the steps. He tiredly wondered if he should get a cleaning crew out here to sweep up as he dragged himself into the kitchen.

Jame was standing at the stove, cooking what seemed to be a small mountain of eggs. Yugi's grandpa stood humming happily next to her buttering toast. They both turned to look at him as he collapsed into a chair.

"You look like hell." Jame poured a cup of tea and set it in front of him.

"Lovely day to you too." Kaiba gulped the tea, hoping the caffeine would kick in soon.

"You should go home and get some sleep." Solomon set some toast down in front of him. "Yugi and Yuai showed up a little while ago. Apparently, they had car trouble and got lost in the woods looking for a phone."

Kaiba blinked groggily at them as they grinned happily down at him. "Woods?"

Jame nodded, "Yep, woods."

"They got lost in the woods?" Kaiba tried to fit that into the framework of facts that they had gathered from the day before.

Jame shrugged, "Woods."

The soft thump of feet descending the staircase made him look up as Yugi and Yuai trundled into the kitchen.

"Kaiba!" Yuai thumped herself down in the seat next to him, dressed in what looked like an old set of Yugi's gym clothes.

Yugi sat down next to her reaching for the toast while smiling at him. "Thanks for helping while we were gone."

Kaiba nodded, still trying to figure out what was going on, then looked over at Yugi's grandpa, who was still merrily humming and making toast and figured it out. "Lost in the woods Moto?"

"Well, yeah." Yugi looked a bit guiltily at his grandpa. "The van we were in broke down and we thought the other road was just over the hill and…"

"We got lost." Yuai piped in as Yugi started faltering, looking more and more guilty.

Kaiba gave a silent snort and ate his toast. Yugi grinned sheepishly and stuffed a entire slice in his mouth as Solomon turned around to set a second plate on the table.

Yuai nudged him slightly, "Kaiba, what if I told you that Yugi has a friend that looks just like him, but invisible."

"Congratulations, you met Yami. Now you just have two more to go." Kaiba snagged some eggs as Jame put them on the table.

"Two more? What do you mean two more?"

Warning

Okay folks, I am putting a warning here. After debating with myself and trying to rework the plot line of the story arch, I've come to the conclusion that I have to put one more thing in here that is important to the next bit of the story line. It will probably upset people because you'll have to wait till I get around to the next story to have it in any way resolved, which might take awhile since I want to write _Tea for Two_ and _Just Shoot Me!_ before I start in on that one. So, if you are the type who can't wait in suspense for any length of time, stop here and pick it up again when I start on the next story. If you don't mind having chaos erupt and having to wait till the resolution (whatever it may be) then read on.

End of Warning

Jame waved back as she walked down the steps. "Nice meeting you."

"Thank you." Solomon stood on the top waving back. "Thank you very much for all your help."

"You're welcome." She gathered up her jacket and shrugged into it. "If you need anything else, let me know."

"Of course, and stop by when you have a chance." Solomon watched as she stepped out the door and into the waiting limo. He turned back around as Kaiba finally finished gathering up the things that had be scattered around the living room.

"Thank you, too Kaiba." Solomon nodded briskly at the young man who was glancing around making one final check of the room.

Kaiba gave a small nod. "Thank Jonouchi. He's the one who dragged me here." He looked over to where Yugi and Yuai were curled together, sleeping on the couch. "I'll send a car to pick her up."

"You don't believe the lost in the woods story do you?" Solomon nearly laughed as the trace of surprise that flicked across Kaiba's face. "I may be old, but I have yet to qualify as stupid."

Kaiba shrugged. "If that's what he wants us to believe, then let him."

The bell on the door below rang cheerily and they both stopped and looked up as Mai, Anzu and Honda walked into the kitchen looking questioningly around, when they noticed Yugi and Yuai grins broke out on their faces and their mouths opened.

Solomon quickly motioned them to be quiet. "They got back about a hour ago. Let them sleep."

Honda nodded, walking over and looking down at his friends. "They okay?"

Anzu and Mai followed him over, "What happened?"

"Lost in the woods." Kaiba managed not to roll his eyes as the three newcomers nodded believingly.

"That must have sucked." Honda whispered.

"Well, they're back now." Anzu looked around. "Where's Jonouchi?"

Kaiba turned sharply to look at her, feeling something cold and tight clench in his chest. "What?"

"He ditched us. Took the car and left." Mai frowned. "When I get my hands on him."

Solomon shook his head, "He isn't here. We thought he was with you."

"We separated. He went to call you, while we went to talk to people at the convention to see if anyone knew anything about Yugi. He never met up with us." Anzu shook her head. "So we looked around for him, then checked and found the car gone. We thought he came back."

Kaiba quickly walked into the kitchen, grabbed the phone and dialed his mansion. The others, still smiling and relieved about Yugi being home, walked in a few minutes later to find him staring blindly at the refrigerator with the phone dangling from his hand.

He looked at them as if he'd never seen them before, then blinked heavily. "They found the car at the bottom of a gorge. Jo wasn't in it, but there was a lot of…" He trailed off, not wanting to say the words, still trying to deny the image that was taking shape in his head. "I have to go."

* * *

Don't kill me! authoress peeks out of bomb shelter then hides again I had to do it! Really! 


	19. To Walk Beside You

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

* * *

Emergence

Chapter Nineteen: To Walk Beside You

Jame

Jame settled into her office chair and pondered the computers that sat in a neat row against the wall. Security had finished cleaning out Kaiba's ex-assistants offices (and escorting said ex-assistants off Kaiba Corp property) and now Jame was stuck trying to figure out what the hell she was supposed to do. The plan had gone completely awry, she was supposed to be happily fired by now, damn it. Her vacation time was nearly up an all she had to show for it was a happy boss and a small line of computers. Not exactly the result she had been hoping for.

_Maybe I'm doing this whole thing wrong._ Jame noted that the cleaning crew had once again nudged her rolodex too far to the right and slid it back into place. _Maybe if I replace myself? Get him some executive assistants that aren't trying to destroy him? Show him what a real secretary could do for him?_ Jame shrugged mentally. _Worth a try, nothing else has worked so far._

Kaiba

Mokuba was back. Kaiba stood at the window in his home office listening to his brother unpacking, calling greetings to the staff and thumping around in his room. He vaguely wondered how long it would take till Mokuba realized that he was there. Part of him desperately hoped his kid brother wouldn't find him. When Mokuba found him, he would have to tell him about… that. He'd be curious about his friends, about what had been happening while he was away. He'd want to know where Jo…

He didn't want to discuss it. Childishly, he clung to the belief that if he didn't talk about it, if he didn't say it, it wouldn't be true. He closed his eyes, trying to deny the burning in them, to ignore the way moisture would leak out the corners, spiking his lashes.

He could almost see it, anytime now, Jo would saunter in, sprawl in a chair and give him a smile. _Hey, Kaiba, whatcha doing?_ Then he'd shrug, pretend to work, watch him out of the corner of his eye. _Yug and the others are heading over to the arcade. Want ta come?_ He'd snort or grunt or something, a small sound to say he was listening, without committing himself to anything. Jo would probably sit with one leg over the arm of the chair, bouncing his foot. _It'll be fun._ He'd pretend to ignore that comment, perhaps pretend to read something or be looking for something, as he covertly studied him, wondering how someone like Jo would even bother with someone like him.

"Big brother!" Mokuba snapped him out of his dream. He was already bounding across the room. A huge smile on his face.

In a moment he was wrapped in his brother's joyful embrace. "Mokuba." His voice sounded odd, hoarse, distant.

"I didn't know you were here." His brother smiled up at him. He watched the smile fade bit by bit as silence stretched between them. "Seto?"

Kaiba blinked then nodded, "How was the flight?"

Mokuba stepped back slightly, looking confused. "What happened?"

Kaiba shrugged, "The head of Quistcell committed suicide."

Mokuba frowned, "So? I didn't think you knew him."

"I didn't but I was there when he did it." He turned away, looking out the window.

Mokuba perched on the edge of his desk watching him. "You okay?"

He shrugged again. The rain had finally let up. Big, soft white clouds now floated serenely across the sky. Pools of clear sparkling water were scattered across the pavement, reflecting the clouds.

"Seto! What's going on?" Mokuba's hand caught his sleeve, tugging at him, insisting he answer.

"Yugi and Yuai were missing for a couple of days." He refused to look at the younger boy. "They were hitchhiking. Their ride broke down and they got lost looking for a phone."

"Are they all right?" Mokuba let him go. Concern for his friends edging his voice.

Kaiba nodded, "Fine.

"Then what's wrong?" Mokuba sounded irritated, exasperated.

Kaiba glanced at him quickly, then looked away. "While they were gone…" He watched as a gardener walked under the window, carrying a pair of sheers. "Jo, Honda, Anzu and Mai went looking for them."

"And..?" Mokuba prodded.

_Don't say it!_ He shrugged. "Yugi and Yuai arrived home before they didn't."

"Did." Mokuba corrected. "Seto, you're not telling me, are you?"

"Didn't. Honda did, Anzu did, Mai did." He opened his mouth to say it, but the words wouldn't come. Instead the scene the police had told him about flashed through his head: a crumpled, wrecked car at the bottom of a dry gorge, empty seats covered in blood, the car set in neutral, obviously pushed off the edge.

"Well… then what?" Mokuba grabbed his arm, hauling him around to face him.

He honestly couldn't bring himself to say it. "The police called the mansion while I was dealing with Yoshikawa." He couldn't meet his brother's eyes. "I called them back. The car got totaled."

"That's it? One of the cars got wrecked?" Mokuba didn't let him go. He was frowning. "What, was your favorite computer in it? Your deck? Important business plans? What?"

"No, nothing was in it. No one." Kaiba tried to pull free, escape, but the kid wouldn't let him go.

"Seto…" Mokuba's voice had a hint of a warning.

"Jo." He managed to get out before his mouth and throat closed on him.

Mokuba gave him a small confused frown. "What does Jo have to do with…"

"He's gone."

Yamis

"So we all found out the same thing." Bakura was flopped on the ground beneath the tree. "We have to sing our way out of this."

"Seems so." Yami poked the tree that still seemed interested in at least tasting him.

Marik lay on his back, smiling, "Can't have everything. I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic, like blood sacrifices, potions, lots of smoke, maybe a bit of lightning."

"I'm not doing it." Bakura scowled, "I'm staying here."

Yami Yugi shook his head. "It's your choice. But with the way things are going, I am trying." He looked at the blue river that lazed by. "There is too much going on. Duke was kidnapped and someone used shadow magic to wipe his mind. Mokuba was nearly killed. Kaiba was magically attacked. Yugi and Yuai were kidnapped and their friend was murdered. Now, Jonouchi is missing."

"It's not like we won't be able to come back here. The body will in actuality be little more than a solid illusion," Marik waved his hand lightly around, gesturing to the landscape around them. "We will still be connected to the Millennium items and to the Shadow Realm. The only thing changing is people will see us and we can interact with the mortal realm."

Bakura growled, "I don't like it."

Marik yawned and got to his feet. "Like it or not. I won't leave my hikari to face what ever is coming alone."

"Agreed." Yami Yugi stood as well, looking down at the sprawled thief, "Are you coming?"

Bakura stood, "You two first. If it works, then **maybe** I'll do it."

"Stage fright?" Marik stretched.

"Fuck off."

Marik grinned, "Maybe once we have bodies, I'll give you a try."

Bakura made gagging noises.

"Alright, I'll try it first. Yugi's waiting for me." Yami Yugi looked away. "Mahado said to sing it as I emerge into the mortal realm."

"Yea, for Mahado." Bakura stood and shuffled uneasily as Yami Yugi started humming softly.

The pharaoh ignored him, closing his eyes in concentration as he began to sing.His velvety soft voice caressed gently over the words, as power and magic started swirling around his form.

"Lost in darkness, banished from life

In shadows I call, yearning for light.

In faith I walk toward life

In faith I walk from death

In faith I walk toward the light

Leaving behind the shadow of all enshrouding night

Born from woman I first walked the world

Now born of dark I will myself to be."

Bands of light wove hissing around him as he sang, weaving into a pillar with Yami Yugi standing in the center. A stream of energy arched across the center hitting the pharaoh, causing his slender form to convulsively jerk. His mouth widened in a gasp of pain, then firmed again as he took a breath and continued singing.

"Back to bone, time holds me now

Back to blood, pain bites me

Back to flesh, mortality is mine again

I step away from the shadow, away from the night

Born in darkness, ending in life

I do not look back, let me emerge to the light."

Streams of light flashed back and forth, some snapping at the pharaoh's slender form, others cascading around him. Every time one of the crackling flows of energy touched him, his body shuddered, his voice wavering a second.

"The door opens, the shadows recede

The door opens, the light beckons

The door opens, life calls

The night is over, light fills me

Let the past lift and the shadow part

I live once more, born to the world of light."

At the last note the column exploded in light. The sides collapsed inward catching the startled pharaoh. His body arched back, a silent scream on his lips as he was suddenly snuffed out. The column glowed eerily for a second, then it too disappeared.

Malik frowned slightly and scratched his nose, "I think our calculations are a bit off. But on the brighter side, it had lightning."

Yugi, Ryou, Malik, Honda & Yuai

"Okay so there are actually three dead Egyptian guys." Yuai looked at the three 'hikaris' doubtfully, "and they live in those pieces of jewelry and they are presently trying to get bodies by singing a song."

Ryou looked away feeling a bit embarrassed. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"Mine's not from Egypt." Malik scratched his head embarrassed. "He's actually…well…me. The dark half of my mind. We got split in half and he kind of got stuck in the Millennium Rod and," his voice dwindled off and he looked down at his feet, "he's trying to take over the world with a ball point pen and a pack of Juicy Fruit gum last I checked."

"It's really not like that Yuai." Yugi gave her a hug. "Just wait till you meet them. You'll like them."

"Just as long as Bakura doesn't try to knife you." Malik mumbled.

"Or Yami Yugi mind crush you." Ryou looked innocently away at a passing flock of birds.

Yugi spun around and glared, "Or Marik try to turn you into a helpless mind slave."

"He only did that once." Malik glared back. "While Bakura…"

"My yami is perfectly fine. He just likes glittery things. And knives glitter." Ryou nudged Yugi. "How many times has yami mind crushed someone? Hmmm?"

"He only does it to bad people." Yugi nodded to Malik. "His yami…"

Yuai looked over at Honda who was sitting on a nearby park bench. He was staring across the park at the people who were out enjoying the day. He'd been quiet most of the time they'd been here. She walked over to him and sat down, watching her boyfriend and his two friends bicker. "You okay?"

Honda didn't look at her, "Sure. Fine."

Yuai nodded. "Okay."

They sat there watching the three, the fight seemed to have degenerated into who had a cleaner room. Yuai was pretty sure Yugi wouldn't be winning that fight any time soon. Last she'd seen it, the room had looked like a demolition crew had just blasted through.

"I left him there you know." Honda whispered. "He was standing in line to use the phone and I just walked away." He leaned forward resting his arms against his thighs, dangling his hands between his knees, his head bowed "He's my best friend. I should have been there."

"Honda…"

He shook his head. "It's okay. I know, don't blame yourself, right? I couldn't have known. If I did I would have stayed." He looked up at her. "I know. It doesn't help, but I know."

The three hikari's suddenly stopped bickering and looked around. A soothing voice could be heard quietly singing. Occasionally, the voice would pause, sometimes mid word, then it would continue, smooth and clear.

Yugi smiled. "Yami?"

There was a sudden flash of harsh white light and a slender form collapsed bonelessly to the ground at Yugi's feet.

"Yami!" Yugi knelt down at the figure's side and tried to turn the other over.

Honda scrambled to his feet and went over to help him. Ryou, Malik and Yuai hovered worriedly in the background as the two checked over the limp unmoving form.

"He looks like he's okay. He's just stunned I think." Yugi cradled his twin close to him, soothing his hand through soft, colorful hair. "I can touch him. Really touch him." He breathed, "Not just pretend, I can feel him."

Malik leaned closer. "And we can see him too. Are you sure he's okay? Marik isn't entirely sure this worked."

"I'm fine." Yami's voice was hoarse and a bit shaky. "Tell him to hurry it up."

Malik nodded, his eyes unfocusing for a second. "Okay, he's going to give it a try."

The voice this time was deeper. It seemed to curl around like a dark, velvety cat purring in the night. Again the voice paused in places, occasionally stopping for a few seconds before beginning again. The light flashed again and a tall, muscular figure sprawled on the ground at Malik's feet.

Malik gave a happy cry and gathered up his yami. "It's you! Oh Ra, look at you." He was laughing and crying as he hugged his other close. "I can even smell you." He buried his face in his yami's hair as the other raised and hand and pulled him closer.

Ryou stood looking out at nothing, with a slight troubled look on his face.

Yugi was already helping his yami to his feet and smiled at him. "I guess its Bakura's turn."

Ryou shook his head sighing. "He won't come."

"The thief is probably afraid." Marik grunted as Malik helped him to his feet. "I have to admit, it looks painful." He glanced over at the pharaoh. "Thought you had obliterated yourself, for a minute or two."

Yami Yugi smiled nastily, "Tell him I don't blame him for not wanting to try it. It's complicated. It takes a lot of power and it hurts like hell." His smile widened. "And he is just a tomb robbing thief. We really can't expect him to try something like that. Can we?"

Ryou's eyes unfocused again, then he winced. "Okay, he's going to try it." He put his fingers in his ears. "Just trust me on this. Plug your ears and start humming now."

Bakura ground his teeth together. He knew that that idiot pharaoh was setting him up. The baka had laid it on thick enough to trowel with a bulldozer. That didn't mean however that he liked it. He looked around at the peacefully flowing river and the tree with its small beautifully deadly flowers and shrugged. It wasn't like anyone could hear him. He took a deep breath and sang.

The tree reacted first. While it had completely ignored Yami Yugi's dramatic departure and Marik's equally spectacular exit, it now shuddered at the horrendous act that took place so near it. It shivered in horror pulling its branches back and raining a shower of silvery leaves down in shocked protest. Its tiny flowers shriveled and started falling to the ground where they lay twitching, their tiny vicious mouths opening and closing like stranded fish gasping for air.

The river was only a second behind. Its waters churning and retracting, as small fish like creatures suddenly started floating, belly up, to its surface.

The voice this time wasn't a soft, soothing whisper, nor did it slide into your ears like liquid night. This time it sounded a lot like a dying pig that was gargling while suffering from the world's worst case of hiccups.

Malik groaned as he covered his ears. "Okay. So the ass had a good reason to not want to do this."

Yami ground his teeth together. "Just when I think he can't do anything worse to me, he finds something he hasn't tried."

Yugi had his fingers pressed into his ears and was humming loudly to himself, but his eyes still watered in pain. Ryou stood with his head bowed and his eyes squished shut, shivering violently every time the voice tried, and failed, to hit a high note. Marik hid behind his yami, covering his ears and counting backwards from one hundred aloud.

Honda and Yuai shuddered and dashed off to watch from a distance and stood watching the others suffer.

"Kami, that is bad." Honda winced as a couple of high notes wafted toward them. "Forget shadow magic. He could have brought the kingdom of Egypt to its knees just by singing a lullaby."

The flash of light mercifully put an end to the horror and a white haired form slumped at Ryou's feet. The four that had stayed close, heaved a visible sigh of relief as Ryou knelt down and gathered his yami into his arms.

"Thank Ra, its over." Yami pulled Yugi into his arms as he glared down at Bakura's stunned form. "Thief, if you ever put my hikari through such suffering again. I'll gut you with a cheese grater."

Bakura blinked dazedly up at him, "What are you yelling about now baka? I never touched your light. Well, at least not recently."

"I'm with him on this tomb robber." Marik cuddled his hikari protectively. "Sing another note around Malik and I'll hold you down while he," he nodded to Yami, "does the grating."

Bakura moaned, hiding his face against his light's stomach. "Fuck. I didn't think anyone could hear me."

Jame

"You what!" Jame yelled into the phone. She was sprawled in her chair waiting for Kaiba to arrive. She really didn't have much hope, it was past two and he hadn't shown yet.

"We worked out a rent to own program with Kaiba last night." She could hear the gloat in Drover's voice. "Basically, he's setting us up in Domino City. It's pretty plush. We get our own place, state of the art equipment, and he's even agreed to update our road set up and gear. It'll be great."

"You can't do that!" Jame shivered in anger, picturing the self satisfied look on her now ex-best friend's face. "You can not do a rent to own program with me being rented to be owned."

Tink laughed softly, "Sure we can."

"Don't pout Jame." Pease cooed. "Just think how happy everyone will be. You can organize things day and night. Kaiba won't have to worry about a secretary and we get new gear. See, everyone's happy."

"I am NOT HAPPY!" Jame snarled into the mouthpiece of the phone.

"Jame, sweetie, why don't we leave you alone to think about it for a bit. We'll call you tonight." Tink snickered.

"NO! Don't you dare, you coward.." The line clicked and went dead.

"Rent to own." She swung around to glare at Kaiba's door. "Okay you, just you wait. I haven't even gotten started yet. By the time I'm done you'll be begging me to leave."

Someplace

The man looked down at the blood spattered, unconscious figure sprawled on the dirty futon and turned away. The kid wouldn't be going anywhere, not in the condition he was in. He shut the door behind him and walked over to the Formica table that rocked unsteadily at his touch. Scooping up a bottle of amber liquid, he walked over to the worn couch and thumped down, unscrewing the top of the bottle and taking a generous swig as he clicked on the television.

"Well Kaiba, whatcha gonna do?" He grinned easily as a commercial with two men in overalls watching a car of scantily clad girls, waving beer bottles flickered by. "I got your candy assed boyfriend, Kaiba. Come and get him."

He tossed back another gulp of liquid fire and turned to grin at the door. "This is gonna be fun. You don't mind sharin' now do you Kaiba. If ya do, better speak now." He paused a moment. "Don't hear nothin', so I guess you don't mind." He laughed softly, "You're right generous there Kaiba. Too bad I gotta kill ya, but don't worry. It'll take awhile. You gotta suffer first."

He took another drink and set the bottle on the floor. "After all Kaiba, you destroyed my life, it's only fair that I destroy yours too."

* * *

Please review and tell me how you liked it. What parts of the story worked for you? What parts left you confused and what did you really want deleted? I'm writing not just for me to write, but for all of you to read. Let me know what you think.

Ta Da! That's it folks! This story will take up again in the third part of the series "Psyche". For you folks who are curious about this stuff, the word psyche is originally from Greece. It means both soul and butterfly. I was just reading a neat article about Eros and Psyche. It's pretty interesting. Especially the part about Psyche opening Persephone's box…


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